Exploring immune evasion of SARS-CoV-2 variants using a pseudotyped system

Autor: Haixiao Duan, Ershuai Zhang, Ge Ren, Yining Cheng, Binfeng Yang, Lirong Liu, Normand Jolicoeur, Han Hu, Yan Xu, Binlei Liu
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Heliyon, Vol 10, Iss 8, Pp e29939- (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2405-8440
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29939
Popis: In the United States, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases have consistently been linked to the prevailing variant XBB.1.5 of SARS-CoV-2 since late 2022. A system has been developed for producing and infecting cells with a pseudovirus (PsV) of SARS-CoV-2 to investigate the infection in a Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) laboratory. This system utilizes a lentiviral vector carrying ZsGreen1 and Firefly luciferase (Fluc) dual reporter genes, facilitating the analysis of experimental results. In addition, we have created a panel of PsV variants that depict both previous and presently circulating mutations found in circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains. A series of PsVs includes the prototype SARS-CoV-2, Delta B.1.617.2, BA.5, XBB.1, and XBB.1.5. To facilitate the study of infections caused by different variants of SARS-CoV-2 PsV, we have developed a HEK-293T cell line expressing mCherry and human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). To validate whether different SARS-CoV-2 PsV variants can be used for neutralization assays, we employed serum from rats immunized with the PF-D-Trimer protein vaccine to investigate its inhibitory effect on the infectivity of various SARS-CoV-2 PsV variants. According to our observations, the XBB variant, particularly XBB.1.5, exhibits stronger immune evasion capabilities than the prototype SARS-CoV-2, Delta B.1.617.2, and BA.5 PsV variants. Hence, utilizing the neutralization test, this study has the capability to forecast the effectiveness in preventing future SARS-CoV-2 variants infections.
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