Recombinant RSV Strains Expressing the G and F Proteins from various geographically distributed RSV strains for use in drug and vaccine screening
- Provides new and needed tool for screening potential RSV therapies, ensuring they are broadly effective against multiple, geographically distinct strains of the virus
- Expresses the red fluorescent protein mKate2 for easy screening
RSV is a common respiratory virus infecting most of the population at some point during their life and a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants, children, and the elderly. Currently, neither an RSV vaccine nor effective post-infection therapeutic exists. Cases can often result in hospitalization and sometimes death in these populations. RSV vaccine and therapeutic development has faced challenges including high reversion rate and low immunogenicity. There is an urgent need to develop vaccines that provide a long lasting, highly immunogenic response as well as therapeutics that can be given post-infection.
Researchers at Emory have generated a series of recombinant respiratory syncytial viruses (RSVs) strains to use for vaccine & therapeutic development. Each of these RSVs contains glycoproteins from geographically distinct RSV strains. In each, the G and F genes are replaced with that of other RSV strains from a different geographic region's TX11-56 (Texas), Riyadh 91/2009 (Saudi Arabia), 9320 (Massachusetts), and A1998-12-21 (Tennessee). Each strain also expresses the red fluorescent protein mKate2 and could prove to be useful in further studies in developing therapeutics and vaccines.
These recombinant strains have been developed and used for vaccine candidate screening in the lab.