Vaccines to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-induced disease

Abstract

An important effort has been performed after the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 to diagnose and prevent virus spreading. Several types of vaccines have been developed including inactivated viruses, subunit vaccines, virus-like particles (VLPs), DNA vaccines, heterologous expression systems, and vaccines derived from SARS-CoV genome by reverse genetics. This review describes several aspects essential to develop SARS-CoV vaccines, such as the correlates of protection, virus serotypes, vaccination side effects, and bio-safeguards that can be engineered into recombinant vaccine approaches based on the SARS-CoV genome. The production of effective and safe vaccines to prevent SARS has led to the development of promising vaccine candidates, in contrast to the design of vaccines for other coronaviruses, that in general has been less successful. After preclinical trials in animal models, efficacy and safety evaluation of the most promising vaccine candidates described has to be performed in humans.

Boosted expression of the SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein in tobacco and its immunogenicity in mice

“…SARS-CoV infection causes disastrous aftermath; therefore, enormous efforts have been undertaken to develop effective and safe vaccines against this newly emerged virus [2]. Humoral and cellular responses had been evidently detected in animal models in response to vaccines developed with the SARS-CoV N protein or N DNA [22,28,55,56].…”

“…SARS was first detected in the Guangdong Province of China in late 2002. It rapidly spread across the world, and more than 8000 cases have been recorded thus far, with 10% mortality [2]. SARS-CoV infection may cause fever, pneumonia, diarrhea, respiratory lesions, or even death [3].…”

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Spike Protein Delivered by Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Efficiently Induces Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies

“…The MERS-CoV spike (S) protein, a characteristic structural component of the virion membrane, forms large protruding spikes on the surface of the virus; its S1 domain mediates binding to dipeptidyl peptidase 4, which serves as the host cell receptor of MERSCoV (6). Importantly, the S protein is considered a key component of vaccines against coronavirus infection, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (7,8).…”

Development of next-generation respiratory virus vaccines through targeted modifications to viral immunomodulatory genes

“…Coronaviruses encode up to 16 nonstructural proteins (nsps), at least 7 structural proteins and a diverse set of accessory proteins that vary in form and function between strains [42] (Figure 1). The function of many of the accessory proteins for coronaviruses remains unclear or unknown.…”

“…Very little E is incorporated into coronavirus virions, with as few as 20 copies per virion, however there is a high concentration of E detected within the host cell during virus replication [53–55]. Despite its various functions, E is dispensable for virus replication [42,56–59]. A SARS-CoV vaccine containing an E deletion has been generated and is highly attenuated in hamsters exhibiting less detected viral antigen by lung histopathology and lower viral titers [50,51,56,60].…”