WIKIMEDIA, SCINCESIDEA synthetic DNA–based vaccine targeting the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) protects rhesus macaques from developing symptoms of the disease. The vaccine also elicits antibodies against the spike protein of the virus in camels, which are thought to facilitate the spread of the pathogen to humans. These preclinical results were published today (August 19) in Science Translational Medicine.
“This type of vaccine [could allow] for a potentially more broadly neutralizing antibody response, which may protect against multiple strains of MERS-CoV circulating in the environment,” virologist Matthew Frieman of the University of Maryland who was not involved in the study told The Scientist in an email.
David Weiner, a professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania who develops gene-based vaccines, and his colleagues took cues from previous vaccine studies of the related severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which showed that the spike glycoprotein is immunogenic and induces neutralizing, infection-preventing antibodies. The researchers designed an artificial consensus sequence of the MERS-CoV glycoprotein based on sequences of isolates from past and ongoing MERS outbreaks. “[The sequence is changed slightly to emphasize conserved regions of ...
