Current Advances in the Development of Vaccines and Therapeutic Agents Against MERS-coV

ABSTRACT

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by the betacoronavirus (MERS-CoV). Since the isolation and identification of MERS-CoV in 2012, cases have been spread to neighboring nations in Arabian Peninsula area and Europe. The recent outbreak of MERS in Korea confirmed that MERS-CoV is capable of causing epidemics through person-to-person transmission. Despite of its high mortality, there is no available effective vaccine and therapeutic agent partly due to its short history. So far, ribavirin and interferon therapy has been failed to prove its efficacy in human patients. Thus, there is an urgent need for the effective countermeasures such as vaccines and therapeutics. In the current review, recent advances in the development of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies have been discussed.