Expression of human respiratory syncytial virus N and P proteins: functional and immunization studies.

Author(s)

Fernando Moreira Simabuco

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB/SDI)
• Defense date: 2009-02-12

Examining board members

Armando Morais Ventura; Rita de Cassia Cafe Ferreira; Paulo Lee Ho; Marilis do Valle Marques; Nilson Ivo Tonin Zanchin

• Advisor: Armando Morais Ventura

Abstract

The Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus is a single stranded negative RNA enveloped virus and it is considered the most important pathogen of the respiratory tract of infants and neonates. The viral N and P proteins were expressed in bacteria, purified and used for the production of polyclonal antibodies in mice. In silico studies allowed the prediction of intrinsically disordered domains for P protein, which were identified by mass spectrometry as protease hyper sensible regions. The optimization of N and P genes allowed a robust expression of the N and P proteins in human cells. DNA vaccines containing the optimized genes were tested in mice and generated strong humoral imune response. The N and P proteins expressed in human cells were immunoprecipitated and their interactions with cellular proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. The P protein was able to interact with the HSP70 protein. Finally, an alternative Minigenome system, using an RNA polymerase II promoter, was developed for HRSV but low or no activity was detected. (AU)