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Title: Engineering, Structure and Immunogenicity of the Human Metapneumovirus F Protein in the Postfusion Conformation

Journal Article · · PLoS Pathogens
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [4]
  1. Inst. de Salud Carlos III, Madrid (Spain)
  2. Univ. of Rochester Medical Center, NY (United States); Inst. de Salud Carlos III, Madrid (Spain)
  3. Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH (United States)
  4. Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States)

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a paramyxovirus that is a common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children less than five years of age. The hMPV fusion (F) glycoprotein is the primary target of neutralizing antibodies and is thus a critical vaccine antigen. To facilitate structure-based vaccine design, we stabilized the ectodomain of the hMPV F protein in the postfusion conformation and determined its structure to a resolution of 3.3 Å by X-ray crystallography. The structure resembles an elongated cone and is very similar to the postfusion F protein from the related human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV). In contrast, significant differences were apparent with the postfusion F proteins from other paramyxoviruses, such as human parainfluenza type 3 (hPIV3) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV). The high similarity of hMPV and hRSV postfusion F in two antigenic sites targeted by neutralizing antibodies prompted us to test for antibody cross-reactivity. The widely used monoclonal antibody 101F, which binds to antigenic site IV of hRSV F, was found to cross-react with hMPV postfusion F and neutralize both hRSV and hMPV. Despite the cross-reactivity of 101F and the reported cross-reactivity of two other antibodies, 54G10 and MPE8, we found no detectable cross-reactivity in the polyclonal antibody responses raised in mice against the postfusion forms of either hMPV or hRSV F. The postfusion-stabilized hMPV F protein did, however, elicit high titers of hMPV-neutralizing activity, suggesting that it could serve as an effective subunit vaccine. Structural insights from these studies should be useful for designing novel immunogens able to induce wider cross-reactive antibody responses.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Inst. of Health
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; SAF2015-67033-RSAF2012-31217; BFU 2013-43149-R; P20GM113132
OSTI ID:
1324810
Journal Information:
PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 12, Issue 9; ISSN 1553-7374
Publisher:
Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 31 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Structural basis for antibody cross-neutralization of respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus journal January 2017
Structure and immunogenicity of pre-fusion-stabilized human metapneumovirus F glycoprotein journal November 2017
Characterization of potent RSV neutralizing antibodies isolated from human memory B cells and identification of diverse RSV/hMPV cross-neutralizing epitopes journal August 2019
A Potent Neutralizing Site III-Specific Human Antibody Neutralizes Human Metapneumovirus In Vivo journal July 2019
Inhibiting Human Parainfluenza Virus Infection by Preactivating the Cell Entry Mechanism journal February 2019
Human antibody recognition of antigenic site IV on Pneumovirus fusion proteins journal February 2018
Antibody Epitopes of Pneumovirus Fusion Proteins journal November 2019
The Complexity of Antibody Responses Elicited against the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Glycoproteins in Hospitalized Children Younger than 2 Years journal November 2017