Characteristics of Chimeric West Nile Virus Based on the Japanese Encephalitis Virus SA14-14-2 Backbone

Guohua Li; Xianyong Meng; Zhiguang Ren; Entao Li; Feihu Yan; Jing Liu; Ying Zhang; Zhanding Cui; Yuetao Li; Hongli Jin; Zengguo Cao; Le Yi; Pei Huang; Hang Chi; Hualei Wang; Weiyang Sun; Tiecheng Wang; Yuwei Gao; Yongkun Zhao; Songtao Yang; Xianzhu Xia

doi:10.3390/v13071262

Characteristics of Chimeric West Nile Virus Based on the Japanese Encephalitis Virus SA14-14-2 Backbone

Viruses. 2021 Jun 29;13(7):1262. doi: 10.3390/v13071262.

Authors

Guohua Li^{1

2}, Xianyong Meng³, Zhiguang Ren⁴, Entao Li¹, Feihu Yan¹, Jing Liu⁴, Ying Zhang¹, Zhanding Cui³, Yuetao Li⁵, Hongli Jin⁶, Zengguo Cao⁶, Le Yi¹, Pei Huang⁶, Hang Chi¹, Hualei Wang⁶, Weiyang Sun¹, Tiecheng Wang¹, Yuwei Gao¹, Yongkun Zhao¹, Songtao Yang¹, Xianzhu Xia^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130122, China.
² College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China.
³ College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricutural University, Changchun 130118, China.
⁴ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China.
⁵ College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Zoonosis Research, Ministry of Education, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China.

Abstract

West Nile virus disease (WND) is an arthropod-borne zoonosis responsible for nonspecific fever or severe encephalitis. The pathogen is West Nile virus belonging to the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. Every year, thousands of cases were reported, which poses significant public health risk. Here, we constructed a West Nile virus chimera, ChiVax-WN01, by replacing the prMΔE gene of JEV SA14-14-2 with that of the West Nile virus NY99. The ChiVax-WN01 chimera showed clear, different characters compared with that of JEV SA14-14-2 and WNV NY99 strain. An animal study indicated that the ChiVax-WN01 chimera presented moderate safety and immunogenicity for 4-week female BALB/c mice.

Keywords: Japanese encephalitis virus; West Nile virus; chimera.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Line
Chimera*
Cricetinae
Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / genetics*
Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / pathogenicity
Female
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Virulence
West Nile virus / genetics*
West Nile virus / pathogenicity