Novel Coronavirus Subunit Vaccine and Screening of Its Efficient Immune Enhancer

doi:10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2022-0408

Abstract

Abstract:

This work aims to promote the development of novel coronavirus（2019-nCoV）subunit vaccine and explore the screening of high-efficiency immune enhancers suitable for the vaccine. We induced the expressions of 2019-nCoV-S and 2019-nCoV-N proteins respectively, determined the contents of the target protein after purification, different concentrations of pine pollen polysaccharide（PPPS）（200, 400, 800 mg/mL）were added as adjuvants to prepare genetic engineering subunit vaccine, and astragalus polysaccharide adjuvant was used as control. One hundred SPF BALB/c mice were randomly divided into ten groups and each subunit vaccine was used in five groups. After immunization, the immune indexes of mice in each group were detected to explore the immune enhancement effect of PPPS on 2019-nCoV-S and 2019-nCoV-N subunit vaccines. The results showed that the recombinant expression and purification of the target protein showed a single band at 55.68 and 45.64 kD, respectively, and the expression was correct. The protein concentration was 1.12 and 0.66 mg/mL, respectively. After immunizing mice with the adjuvant subunit vaccine, it was found that 400 mg/mL PPPS significantly improve the immune effect of the two vaccines, and the effect was better than that of astragalus polysaccharide adjuvant. In summary, the two recombinant proteins can induce higher antibody levels, and PPPS can be used as a candidate adjuvant for 2019-nCoV subunit vaccine.

Key words: novel coronavirus, genetically engineered subunit vaccine, immune adjuvant, pine pollen polysaccharide

WANG Xiang-kun, SONG Xue-hong, LIU Jin-long, GUO Pei-hong, ZHUANG Xiao-feng, WEI Liang-meng, ZHOU Fan, ZHANG Shu-yu, GAO Pan-pan, WEI Kai. Novel Coronavirus Subunit Vaccine and Screening of Its Efficient Immune Enhancer[J]. Biotechnology Bulletin, 2023, 39(1): 305-314.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Induced expressions and purifications of recombinant protein 2019-nCoV-S and 2019-nCoV-N M, Marker. A: 1, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-S/BL21 strain 1 before induction. 2, Total cell protein pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-S/BL21 strain 1 after induction. 3, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-S / BL21 strain 2 before induction. 4, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-S/BL21 strain after induction. 2. 5, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-N/BL21 strain 1 before induction; 6, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-N/ L21 strain 1 after induction. 7, Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-N / BL21 strain 2 before induction. 8,Total cell protein of pET28a（+）-2019-nCoV-N /BL21 strain 2 after induction. B: 1, The purified recombinant protein 2019-nCoV-S was sampled at 20 μL. 2, The purified recombinant protein 2019-nCoV-S was sampled at 10 μL. C: 1, The purified recombinant protein 2019-nCoV-N was sampled at 20 μL. 2, The purified recombinant protein 2019-nCoV-N was sampled at 10 μL

Fig. 2 BSA protein concentration determination standard curve

Fig. 3 Determination of specific IgG antibody after immu-nization with vaccine A: Changes of 2019-nCoV-S subunit vaccine on the content of IgG in serum. B: Changes of 2019-nCoV-N subunit vaccine on the content of IgG in serum. Shoulder injection of the same lowercase letters indicates no significant difference（P > 0.05）, different lowercase letters indicate significant differences（P < 0.05）, and different uppercase letters indicate extremely significant differences（P < 0.01）, the same below

Fig. 4 Changes of IL-2 content in serum after immuniza-tion with vaccine A: Changes of IL-2 content in serum after immunization with 2019-nCoV-S subunit vaccine. B: Changes of IL-2 content in serum after immunization with 2019-nCoV-N subunit vaccine.

Fig. 5 Changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte conversion rate after immunization with vaccine A: Changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte conversion rate after immunization with 2019-nCoV-S subunit vaccine. B: Changes of peripheral blood lymphocyte conversion rate after immunization with 2019-nCoV-N subunit vaccine.

Fig. 6 Determination of CD4+T and CD8+T cell content in peripheral blood after immunization with vaccine A: Changes of CD4+T cell content in blood after immunization with 2019 n-CoV-S subunit vaccine. B: Changes of CD8+T cell content in blood after immunization with 2019 n-CoV-S subunit vaccine. C: Changes of CD4+T cell content in blood after immunization with 2019 n-CoV-N subunit vaccine. D: Changes of CD8+T cell content in blood after immunization with 2019 n-CoV-N subunit vaccine.

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