2023/01/05 by Lori McGinnes Cullen, Lori M. Cullen, Bin Luo +5 · 1 citation
Medicine · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Respiratory viral infections research #Animal Virus Infections Studies #Virology and Viral Diseases
paper · doi:10.1128/jvi.01900-22
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) results in significant disease in infants, young children, and the elderly. Thus, development of an effective vaccine for these populations is a priority. Most ongoing efforts in RSV vaccine development have focused on the viral fusion (F) protein; however, the importance of the inclusion of G in vaccine candidates is unclear. Here, using virus-like particles (VLPs) assembled with only the F protein, only the G protein, or both glycoproteins, we show that VLPs assembled with both glycoproteins are a far superior vaccine in a cotton rat model compared with VLPs containing only F protein or only G protein. The results show that the presence of G protein in the VLPs influences the conformation of the F protein and the immune responses to F protein, resulting in significantly higher neutralizing antibody titers and better protection from RSV challenge. These results suggest that inclusion of G protein in a vaccine candidate may improve its effectiveness.