Bivalent rotavirus VP4∗ stimulates protective antibodies against common genotypes of human rotaviruses

Guoxing Luo; Yuanjun Zeng; Han Yang; Yijian Li; Lianwei Yang; Cao Li; Feibo Song; Shiyin Zhang; Tingdong Li; Shengxiang Ge; Jun Zhang; Ningshao Xia

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105099

Bivalent rotavirus VP4∗ stimulates protective antibodies against common genotypes of human rotaviruses

iScience. 2022 Sep 8;25(10):105099. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105099. eCollection 2022 Oct 21.

Authors

Guoxing Luo¹, Yuanjun Zeng¹, Han Yang¹, Yijian Li², Lianwei Yang³, Cao Li¹, Feibo Song⁴, Shiyin Zhang¹, Tingdong Li¹, Shengxiang Ge¹, Jun Zhang¹, Ningshao Xia^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.
² College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ R&D Department of Xiamen Innodx Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Xiamen 361000, China.
⁴ National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China.

Abstract

Non-replicating rotavirus vaccines are an alternative strategy to improve the efficacy and safety of rotavirus vaccines. The spike protein VP4, which could be enzymatically cleaved into VP8∗ and VP5∗, is an ideal target for the development of recombinant rotavirus vaccine. In our previous studies, we demonstrated that the truncated VP4 (aa26-476, VP4∗) could be a more viable vaccine candidate compared to VP8∗ and VP5∗. Here, to develop a human rotavirus vaccine, the VP4∗ proteins of P[4], P[6], and P[8] genotype rotaviruses were expressed. All VP4∗ proteins can stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies in both guinea pigs and rabbits when formulated in aluminum adjuvant. Furthermore, bivalent VP4∗-based vaccine (P[8] + P[6]-VP4∗) can stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies against various genotypes of rotavirus with no significant difference as compared to the trivalent vaccines. Therefore, bivalent VP4∗ has the potential to be a viable rotavirus vaccine candidate for further development.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Microbiology; Viral microbiology; Virology.