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Title: Immunogenicity and structures of a rationally designed prefusion MERS-CoV spike antigen

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
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  1. The Scripps Research Inst., La Jolla, CA (United States)
  2. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH (United States)
  3. National Inst. of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD (United States)
  4. Vanderbilt Univ. Medical Center, Nashville, TN (United States)
  5. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH (United States); Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH (United States)

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a lineage C betacoronavirus that since its emergence in 2012 has caused outbreaks in human populations with case-fatality rates of ~36%. As in other coronaviruses, the spike (S) glycoprotein of MERS-CoV mediates receptor recognition and membrane fusion and is the primary target of the humoral immune response during infection. Here we use structure-based design to develop a generalizable strategy for retaining coronavirus S proteins in the antigenically optimal prefusion conformation and demonstrate that our engineered immunogen is able to elicit high neutralizing antibody titers against MERS-CoV. We also determined high-resolution structures of the trimeric MERS-CoV S ectodomain in complex with G4, a stem-directed neutralizing antibody. The structures reveal that G4 recognizes a glycosylated loop that is variable among coronaviruses and they define four conformational states of the trimer wherein each receptor-binding domain is either tightly packed at the membrane-distal apex or rotated into a receptor-accessible conformation. As a result, our studies suggest a potential mechanism for fusion initiation through sequential receptor-binding events and provide a foundation for the structure-based design of coronavirus vaccines.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Inst. of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Inst. of General Medical Sciences
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; AC02-76SF00515; R01AI127521; P20GM113132; HHSN261200800001E; P41GM103393
OSTI ID:
1390889
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 114, Issue 35; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 568 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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In silico screening of known small molecules to bind ACE2 specific RBD on Spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 for repurposing against COVID-19 journal January 2020
Structural basis for human coronavirus attachment to sialic acid receptors journal June 2019
Trypsin Treatment Unlocks Barrier for Zoonotic Bat Coronavirus Infection journal December 2019
Prospects for a MERS-CoV spike vaccine journal August 2018
Advances in MERS-CoV Vaccines and Therapeutics Based on the Receptor-Binding Domain journal January 2019
Structures of MERS-CoV spike glycoprotein in complex with sialoside attachment receptors journal December 2019
Superior immune responses induced by intranasal immunization with recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine expressing full-length Spike protein of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus journal July 2019
Cryo-EM Studies of Virus-Antibody Immune Complexes journal January 2020
Structural definition of a neutralization epitope on the N-terminal domain of MERS-CoV spike glycoprotein journal July 2019
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Vaccine Candidates: Cautious Optimism journal January 2019
Global site-specific analysis of glycoprotein N-glycan processing journal May 2018
Comparative Serological Study for the Prevalence of Anti-MERS Coronavirus Antibodies in High- and Low-Risk Groups in Qatar journal February 2019
Stalking new vaccines: Methods that target the stems of viral proteins could put universal vaccines within reach journal November 2017
Alternative conformations of a major antigenic site on RSV F journal July 2019
Recent Advances in the Vaccine Development Against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus journal August 2019
Moving from Empirical to Rational Vaccine Design in the ‘Omics’ Era journal August 2019
Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation journal February 2020
CD8+ T Cells Responding to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Protein Delivered by Vaccinia Virus MVA in Mice journal December 2018
Subunit Vaccines Against Emerging Pathogenic Human Coronaviruses journal February 2020
Tectonic conformational changes of a coronavirus spike glycoprotein promote membrane fusion journal October 2017
Structure, Function, and Antigenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein journal December 2020
Cryo-EM structure of infectious bronchitis coronavirus spike protein reveals structural and functional evolution of coronavirus spike proteins journal April 2018
The 3.1-Angstrom Cryo-electron Microscopy Structure of the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Spike Protein in the Prefusion Conformation journal September 2019
Stabilized coronavirus spikes are resistant to conformational changes induced by receptor recognition or proteolysis journal October 2018
Antibodies and vaccines against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus journal January 2019
Exploitation of glycosylation in enveloped virus pathobiology journal October 2019
Common Features of Enveloped Viruses and Implications for Immunogen Design for Next-Generation Vaccines journal March 2018
Structural Definition of a Unique Neutralization Epitope on the Receptor-Binding Domain of MERS-CoV Spike Glycoprotein journal July 2018
The Chimpanzee SIV Envelope Trimer: Structure and Deployment as an HIV Vaccine Template journal May 2019
Structural Definition of a Neutralization-Sensitive Epitope on the MERS-CoV S1-NTD journal September 2019
Structure-Based Design of Prefusion-Stabilized Filovirus Glycoprotein Trimers journal March 2020
Molecular Characteristics, Functions, and Related Pathogenicity of MERS-CoV Proteins journal October 2019
X-ray Structures of the Post-fusion 6-Helix Bundle of the Human Syncytins and their Functional Implications journal December 2019
A high-throughput inhibition assay to study MERS-CoV antibody interactions using image cytometry journal March 2019
Detection of MERS-CoV antigen on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded nasal tissue of alpacas by immunohistochemistry using human monoclonal antibodies directed against different epitopes of the spike protein journal December 2019
Characterization of novel monoclonal antibodies against MERS-coronavirus spike protein journal March 2020
Structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein induced by ACE2 journal August 2020
New Vaccine Design and Delivery Technologies journal April 2019
Stabilizing HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein trimers to induce neutralizing antibodies journal September 2018
Chimeric Pneumoviridae fusion proteins as immunogens to induce cross‐neutralizing antibody responses journal December 2017
Recent Aspects on the Pathogenesis Mechanism, Animal Models and Novel Therapeutic Interventions for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infections journal March 2019
Exploring the Regulatory Function of the N-terminal Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Through Molecular Dynamics Simulation preprint January 2021

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