Virus-Like Particles of SARS-CoV-2 as Virus Surrogates: Morphology, Immunogenicity, and Internalization in Neuronal Cells.
ACS Infect Dis
; 8(10): 2119-2132, 2022 Oct 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2036751
ABSTRACT
The engineering of virus-like particles (VLPs) is a viable strategy for the development of vaccines and for the identification of therapeutic targets without using live viruses. Here, we report the generation and characterization of quadruple-antigen SARS-CoV-2 VLPs. VLPs were generated by transient transfection of two expression cassettes in adherent HEK293T cellsâone cassette containing Mpro for processing of three structural proteins (M, E, and N), and the second cassette expressing the Spike protein. Further characterization revealed that the VLPs retain close morphological and antigenic similarity with the native virus and also bind strongly to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor hACE-2 in an in vitro binding assay. Interestingly, the VLPs were found to internalize into U87-MG cells through cholesterol-rich domains in a dynamin-dependent process. Finally, our results showed that mice immunized with VLPs induce robust humoral and cellular immune responses mediated by enhanced levels of IL-4, IL-17, and IFNγ. Taken together, our results demonstrate that VLPs mimic the native virus and induce a strong immune response, indicating the possible use of these particles as an alternative vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. VLPs can also be effective in mapping the initial stages of virus entry and screening inhibitors.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
ACS Infect Dis
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Acsinfecdis.2c00217
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS