Guangzhou National Laboratory, Guangzhou, 510005, China; State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China.
Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China.
Virol Sin. 2023 Oct;38(5):767-777. doi: 10.1016/j.virs.2023.06.003. Epub 2023 Jun 14.
Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is an important tick-borne pathogen that poses as a serious public health concern. The coverage and immunogenicity of the currently available vaccines against TBEV are relatively low; therefore, it is crucial to develop novel and effective vaccines against TBEV. The present study describes a novel strategy for the assembly of virus-like particles (VLPs) by co-expressing the structural (core/prM/E) and non-structural (NS2B/NS3Pro) proteins of TBEV. The efficacy of the VLPs was subsequently evaluated in C57BL/6 mice, and the resultant IgG serum could neutralize both Far-Eastern and European subtypes of TBEV. These findings indicated that the VLP-based vaccine elicited the production of cross-subtype reactive antibodies. The VLPs provided protection to mice lacking the type I interferon receptor (IFNAR) against lethal TBEV challenge, with undetectable viral load in brain and intestinal tissues. Furthermore, the group that received the VLP vaccine did not exhibit significant pathological changes and the inflammatory factors were significantly suppressed compared to the control group. Immunization with the VLP vaccine induced the production of multiple-cytokine-producing antiviral CD4 T cells in vivo, including TNF-α, IL-2, and IFN-γ T cells. Altogether, the findings suggest that noninfectious VLPs can serve as a potentially safe and effective vaccine candidate against diverse subtypes of TBEV.
蜱传脑炎病毒(TBEV)是一种重要的蜱传病原体,对公共卫生构成严重威胁。目前可用的 TBEV 疫苗的覆盖率和免疫原性相对较低;因此,开发针对 TBEV 的新型有效疫苗至关重要。本研究描述了一种通过共表达 TBEV 的结构(核心/PrM/E)和非结构(NS2B/NS3Pro)蛋白来组装病毒样颗粒(VLPs)的新策略。随后在 C57BL/6 小鼠中评估了 VLPs 的功效,产生的 IgG 血清可中和远东和欧洲 TBEV 亚型。这些发现表明,基于 VLP 的疫苗可诱导产生交叉亚型反应性抗体。VLPs 为缺乏 I 型干扰素受体(IFNAR)的小鼠提供针对致死性 TBEV 挑战的保护,大脑和肠道组织中无法检测到病毒载量。此外,与对照组相比,接受 VLP 疫苗接种的组没有明显的病理变化,炎症因子明显受到抑制。VLP 疫苗接种可在体内诱导产生多种产生抗病毒细胞因子的抗病毒 CD4 T 细胞,包括 TNF-α、IL-2 和 IFN-γ T 细胞。总之,这些发现表明,非感染性 VLPs 可作为针对不同 TBEV 亚型的潜在安全有效疫苗候选物。