Furin and TMPRSS2 Resistant Spike Induces Robust Humoral and Cellular Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 Lethal Infection.

An effective COVID-19 vaccine against broad SARS-CoV-2 variants is still an unmet need. In the study, the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-based vector was used to express the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein to identify better vaccine designs. The replication-competent of the recombinant VSV-spike virus with C-terminal 19 amino acid truncation (SΔ19 Rep) was generated.

Autophagy is involved in the early step of Japanese encephalitis virus infection.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), an enveloped Flavivirus with a positive-sense RNA genome, causes acute encephalitis with high mortality in humans. We used a virulent (RP-9) and an attenuated (RP-2ms) JEV strain to assess the role of autophagy in JEV infection. By monitoring the levels of lipidated LC3, we found that autophagy was induced in human NT-2 cells infected with RP-2ms, especially at the late stage, and to a lesser extent with RP-9.

Enhanced immune response by amphotericin B following NS1 protein prime-oral recombinant Salmonella vaccine boost vaccination protects mice from dengue virus challenge.

A recombinant vaccine strain SL3261/pLT105 of attenuated aroA Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL3261 strain expressing a secreted dengue virus type 2 non-structural NS1 and Yersinia pestis F1 (Caf1) fusion protein, rNS1:Caf1, was generated. Immunological evaluation was performed by prime-boost vaccine regimen. Oral immunization of mice with 1 x 10(9)cfu of SL3261/pLT105 only induced low levels of NS1-specific antibody response and protective immunity following dengue virus challenge.

Characterization of a highly attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium mutant strain.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium ATCC 13311 is virulent at a dose as low as 10(2) colony-forming units when administered intraperitoneally to BALB/c mice. In order to develop highly attenuated mutant strain through the combination of 2 phenotypically attenuated markers, we constructed a number of amino acid requiring auxotrophic strains of S. enterica serovar Typhimurium by means of UV-induced mutations.