• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권10호
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• pp.1683-1690
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• 2018

Accurate and rapid diagnosis of influenza infection is essential to enable early antiviral treatment and reduce the mortality associated with seasonal and epidemic infections. Immunochromatography is one of the most common methods used for the diagnosis of seasonal human influenza; however, it is less effective in diagnosing pandemic influenza virus. Currently, rapid diagnostic kits for pandemic influenza virus rely on the detection of nucleoprotein (NP) or hemagglutinin (HA). NP detection shows higher specificity and is more sensitive than HA detection. In this study, we time-dependently screened expression conditions, and herein report optimal conditions for the expression of recombinant nucleoprotein (rNP), which was 48 h after infection. In addition, we report the use of the expressed rNP in a rapid influenza diagnostic test (SGT i-flex Influenza A&B Test). We constructed expression vectors that synthesized rNP (antigen) of influenza A and B in insect cells (Sf9 cells), employed the purified rNP to the immunoassay test kit, and clearly distinguished NPs of influenza A and influenza B using this rapid influenza diagnostic kit. This approach may improve the development of rapid test kits for influenza using NP.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.416-421
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• 2012

Current influenza vaccines elicit antibodies effective against homologous strains, but new strategies are urgently needed for protection against emerging epidemic or pandemic strains. Although influenza vaccine candidates based on the viral nucleoprotein (NP) or matrix protein do not elicit sterilizing immunity, they have the advantage of inducing immunity that may cover a larger number of viral strains. In this study, recombinant NP produced in Escherichia coli was purified and formulated in combination with the adjuvant ISCOMATRIX. This formulation increased a NP-specific immunity in mice, with a Th1 profile, and may constitute a promising low-cost influenza vaccine candidate, with ability to stimulate humoral and cellular immune responses.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.809-815
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• 2018

Influenza, which is a highly contagious disease caused by the influenza A virus, continues to be a major health concern worldwide. Although the accurate and early diagnosis of influenza virus infection is important for controlling the spread of this disease and rapidly initiating antiviral therapy, the current influenza diagnostic kits are limited by their low sensitivity. In this study, we developed several new influenza nucleoprotein (NP)-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and compared their sensitivity and specificity of those with commercially available anti-NP mAbs. Three mAbs, designated M24.11, M34.3, and M34.33, exhibited higher reactivities to recombinant NPs and A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1) viral lysates compared with the commercial mAbs, as assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. M34.3 and M34.33 showed higher reactivities with A/California/04/09 (pandemic H1N1) and A/Philippines/2/82 (H3N2) viral lysates than the commercial mAbs. In contrast, M24.11 had marked reactivity with H3N2 but not with pandemic H1N1. Immunofluorescent confocal microscopy showed that the three mAbs effectively detected the presence of influenza virus in lung tissues of mice infected with A/Puerto Rico/8/1934. These results indicate that the newly developed M34.3 and M34.33 mAbs could be useful for the development of influenza diagnostics.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.28.1-28.14
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• 2021

Lung-resident memory T cells (T_RM) play an essential role in protecting against pulmonary virus infection. Parenteral administration of DNA vaccine is generally not sufficient to induce lung CD8 T_RM cells. This study investigates whether intramuscularly administered DNA vaccine expressing the nucleoprotein (NP) induces lung T_RM cells and protects against the influenza B virus. The results show that DNA vaccination poorly generates lung T_RM cells and massive secondary effector CD8 T cells entering the lungs after challenge infection do not offer sufficient protection. Nonetheless, intranasal administration of non-replicating adenovirus vector expressing no Ag following priming DNA vaccination deploys NP-specific CD8 T_RM cells in the lungs, which subsequently offers complete protection. This novel 'prime and deploy' strategy could be a promising regimen for a universal influenza vaccine targeting the conserved NP Ag.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.24.1-24.10
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• 2022

Background: Small interfering RNA technology has been considered a prospective alternative antiviral treatment using gene silencing against influenza viruses with high mutations rates. On the other hand, there are no reports on its effectiveness against the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus isolated from Indonesia. Objectives: The main objective of this study was to improve the siRNA design based on the nucleoprotein gene (siRNA-NP) for the Indonesian H5N1 virus. Methods: The effectiveness of these siRNA-NPs (NP672, NP1433, and NP1469) was analyzed in vitro in Marbin-Darby canine kidney cells. Results: The siRNA-NP672 caused the largest decrease in viral production and gene expression at 24, 48, and 72 h post-infection compared to the other siRNA-NPs. Moreover, three serial passages of the H5N1 virus in the presence of siRNA-NP672 did not induce any mutations within the nucleoprotein gene. Conclusions: These findings suggest that siRNA-NP672 can provide better protection against the Indonesian strain of the H5N1 virus.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.32.1-32.15
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• 2023

Most influenza vaccines currently in use target the highly variable hemagglutinin protein to induce neutralizing antibodies and therefore require yearly reformulation. T cell-based universal influenza vaccines focus on eliciting broadly cross-reactive T-cell responses, especially the tissue-resident memory T cell (T_RM) population in the respiratory tract, providing superior protection to circulating memory T cells. This study demonstrated that intramuscular (i.m.) administration of the adenovirus-based vaccine expressing influenza virus nucleoprotein (rAd/NP) elicited weak CD8 T_RM responses in the lungs and airways, and yielded poor protection against lethal influenza virus challenge. However, a novel "prime-and-deploy" strategy that combines i.m. vaccination of rAd/NP with subsequent intranasal administration of an empty adenovector induced strong NP-specific CD8⁺ T_RM cells and provided complete protection against influenza virus challenge. Overall, our results demonstrate that this "prime-and-deploy" vaccination strategy is potentially applicable to the development of universal influenza vaccines.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제33권8호
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• pp.605-611
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• 2023

최근에 재조합 H7Nx 인플루엔자 바이러스가 산발적으로 인체 감염 사례가 보고되고 있으며 이러한 바이러스는 조류 종으로부터 지속적으로 분리되고있다. 본 연구에서는 조류에서 유래된 H7N1 인플루엔자 바이러스를 분리하여 A/wild bird/South Korea/sw-anu/2023로 명명하였고, 전장유전체 분석과 분자적 특성을 분석하였다. 계통발생학적 분석 결과 A/wild bird/South Korea/sw-anu/2023는 유라시아 혈통에 속하는 H7N1 인플루엔자 바이러스로 확인되었다. A/wild bird/South Korea/sw-anu/2023 바이러스의 polymerase basic 1(PB)2, PB1, polymerase acidic (PA), nucleoprotein (NP) 유전자는 야생 조류에서 분리되었던 조류 인플루엔자 바이러스유전자와 밀접한 관련이 있는 것으로 밝혀졌으며, hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), matrix (M), nonstructural (NS) 유전자는 집오리에서 분리되었던 조류 인플루엔자 바이러스와 유사하였다. 이러한 결과는 동아시아-호주 이동 경로를 따라 이동하는 야생 조류들 사이에서 새롭게 유전자가 재배열된 재조합 H7N1 조류 인플루엔자 바이러스가 순환되고 있음을 시사하고 있다. 따라서, H7Nx 인플루엔자 바이러스는 전 세계적으로 순환하며, 돌연변이된 H7N1 조류 인플루엔자 바이러스는 인간을 감염시킬 수 있으므로 야생 조류 및 가금류에서 H7N1 조류 인플루엔자 바이러스의 지속적인 감시가 필요할 것이다.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제9권5호
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• pp.169-178
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• 2009

DNA immunization induces B and T cell responses to various pathogens and tumors. However, these responses are known to be relatively weak and often transient. Thus, novel strategies are necessary for enhancing immune responses induced by DNA immunization. Here, we demonstrated that co-immunization of influenza virus nucleoprotein (NP) gene significantly enhances humoral and cell-mediated responses to codelivered antigens in mice. We also found that NP DNA coimmunization augments in vivo proliferation of adoptively transferred antigen-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells, which enhanced protective immunity against tumor challenge. Our results suggest that NP DNA can serve as a novel genetic adjuvant in cocktail DNA vaccination.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제17권3호통권83호
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• pp.340-344
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• 2007

조류인플루엔자바이러스는 사람 및 동물에 상당한 위협을 가하고 있다. 이 연구는 알칼리성 소독용액이 H5N1, H3N2, H6N1, H9N2형 조류인플루엔자바이러스를 불활성화시킬 수 있는지를 조사했다. 알칼리성 소독용액을 생리식염수에 100배 희석한 경우 조류인플루엔자가 MDCK 세포에서 증식하는 것을 완전히 억압하였다. 형광항체법을 이용한 실험에서도 알칼리성소독액을 처리한 H9N2 조류인플루엔자바이러스는 MDCK세포에서 증식이 억제되었고, 알칼리성 소독액을 처리하지 않은 H9N2조류인플루엔자바이러스는 증식이 억제되지 않았다. 이 결과는 알칼리성 소독액은 고병원성 H5N1을 포함을 조류인플루엔자바이러스를 방역하는데 도움이 될 수 있음을 시사한다.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 한국균학회 2016년도 춘계학술대회 및 임시총회
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• pp.41-41
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• 2016

Influenza viruses are RNA viruses that belong to the Orthomyxoviridae family, and those can be divided into three types; A, B, and C, which based on the differences of the inner nucleoproteins and genomic structures. All three genera differ in their genomic structure and nucleoprotein content, they are further classified into various serotypes based on the two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). These glycoproteins play crucial roles in viral infection and replication. Hemagglutinin mediates binding of virions to sialic acid receptors on the surfaces of target cells at the initial stage of infection. Neuraminidase cleaves the glycosidic bonds of sialic acids from the viral and cell surfaces to release the mature virions from infected cells, after viral replication. Because NA plays an important role in the viral life cycle, it is considered an attractive therapeutic target for the treatment of influenza. The methanolic extracts of Phellinus baumii and Phellinus igniarius exhibited significant activity in the neuraminidase inhibition assay. Polyphenolic compounds were isolated from the methanolic extracts. The structures of these compounds were determined to be hispidin, hypholomine B, inoscavin A, davallialactone, phelligridin D, phelligridin E, and phelligridin G by spectroscopic methods. Compounds inhibited the H1N1 neuraminidase activity in a dose-dependent manner with $IC_{50}$ values of 50.9, 22.9, 20.0, 14.2, 8.8, 8.1 and $8.0{\mu}M$, respectively. Moreover, these compounds showed anti-influenza activity in the viral cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assay using MDCK cells. These results suggests that the polyphenols from P. baumii and P. igniarius are promising candidates for prevention and therapeutic strategies against viral infection.