The Development of Vaccines against Sars Corona Virus in Mice and Scid- Pbl/Hu Mice

We have investigated to develop novel vaccines against SARS CoV using cDNA constructs encoding the structural antigen; spike protein (S), membrane protein (M), envelope protein (E ), or nucleocapsid (N) protein, derived from SARS CoV. Mice vaccinated with SARS-N or -M DNA using pcDNA 3 .1(+) plasmid vector showed T cell immune responses (CTL induction and proliferation) against N or M protein, respectively. CTL responses were also detected to SARS DNA-transfected type II alveolar epithelial cells (T 7 cell clone), which are thought to be initial target cells for SARS virus infection in human. To determine whether these DNA vaccines could induce T cell immune responses in humans as well as in mice, SCID-PBL/hu mice was immunized with these DNA vaccines. As expected, virus-specific CTL responses and T cell proliferation were induced from human T cells. SARS-N and SARS-M DNA vaccines and SCID-PBL/hu mouse model will be important in the development of protective vaccines