Dual effects of immune responses during highly pathogenic coronavirus infections and implications for novel coronavirus vaccine research and development / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

The outbreaks caused by coronavirus (CoV) infections including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19 have emerged in recent years, posing a continued threat to public health. Highly pathogenic CoV infections usually induce a series of immune responses, including innate immunity, humoral immunity, cellular immunity and mucosal immunity. These responses not only are critical to suppressing and eliminating the invasion of viruses, but also play an important role in immunopathological changes and disease progression. A deep understanding of the dual roles of immune responses will help to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of CoV and maintain the balance between immune protection and immunopathology, which will be conducive to the research and development of safe and effective CoV vaccines. This review summarized the dual roles of immune responses in highly pathogenic CoV infections and discussed the implications for the research and development of novel CoV vaccines.

HIV Vaccine-Challenges and Opportunities / 中国病毒学·英文版

The need for an efficacious HIV/AIDS vaccine remains the highest priority of the world HIV/AIDS agenda. The generation of an efficacious HIV/AIDS vaccine proves an enormous scientific challenge. This article reviews the neutralizing antibody problem, elusive immune protection, immunogen design, pre-existing anti-vector immunity and design of phase 3 vaccine trials and the challenges and opportunities in development of HIV/AIDS vaccine are discussed.

Expression and Application of Neuraminidase of Influenza Virus / 中国生物工程杂志

To simplify the preparation of neuraminidase in screening influenza neuraminidase inhibitors,the neuraminidase gene of H5N1 influenza A virus was optimized for high expression in mammalian cells and cloned into pcDNA4/TO vector. The recombinant plasmids were transfected into T-REx 293 cells to establish stable cell lines,in which the expression of neuraminidase was induced by tetracycline. Unlike from virions,the preparation of neuraminidase became conveniently and safely from these stable cell lines,which would facilitate developing high throughput assay to screen neuraminidase inhibitors. More than 3000 natural extracts and herbal components were screened in the study. Baicalin and baicalein were found to inhibit oseltamivir-sensitive and oseltamivir-resistant neuraminidase at similar level,furthermore,their anti-influenza activity was confirmed by plaque assay and virus inhibition assay.