Searching for an ideal vaccine candidate among different MERS coronavirus receptor-binding fragments--the importance of immunofocusing in subunit vaccine design.

ABSTRACT: The newly emerged Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is currently spreading among humans, making development of effective MERS vaccines a high priority. A defined receptor-binding domain (RBD) in MERS-CoV spike protein can potentially serve as a subunit vaccine candidate against MERS-CoV infections. To identify an ideal vaccine candidate, we have constructed five different versions of RBD fragments, S350-588-Fc, S358-588-Fc, S367-588-Fc, S367-606-Fc, and S377-588-Fc (their names indicate their residue range in the spike protein and their C-terminal Fc tag), and further investigated their receptor binding affinity, antigenicity, immunogenicity, and neutralizing potential. The results showed that S377-588-Fc is among the RBD fragments that demonstrated the highest DPP4-b

SUBMITTER: Ma C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4194190 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature