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An Ebola Virus-Like Particle-Based Reporter System Enables Evaluation of Antiviral Drugs In Vivo under Non-Biosafety Level 4 Conditions.

ABSTRACT: Ebola virus (EBOV) is a highly contagious lethal pathogen. As a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) agent, however, EBOV is restricted to costly BSL-4 laboratories for experimentation, thus significantly impeding the evaluation of EBOV vaccines and drugs. Here, we report an EBOV-like particle (EBOVLP)-based luciferase reporter system that enables the evaluation of anti-EBOV agents in vitro and in vivo outside BSL-4 facilities. Cotransfection of HEK293T cells with four plasmids encoding the proteins VP40, NP, and GP of EBOV and firefly luciferase (Fluc) resulted in the production of Fluc-containing filamentous particles that morphologically resemble authentic EBOV. The reporter EBOVLP was capable of delivering Fluc into various cultured cells in a GP-dependent manner and was recognized by a conformation-dependent anti-EBOV monoclonal antibody (MAb). Significantly, inoculation of mice with the reporter EBOVLP led to the delivery of Fluc protein into target cells and rapid generation of intense bioluminescence signals that could be blocked by the administration of EBOV neutralizing MAbs. This BSL-4-free reporter system should facilitate high-throughput screening for anti-EBOV drugs targeting viral entry and efficacy testing of candidate vaccines.Ebola virus (EBOV) researches have been limited to costly biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) facilities due to the lack of animal models independent of BSL-4 laboratories. In this study, we reveal that a firefly luciferase-bearing EBOV-like particle (EBOVLP) with typical filamentous EBOV morphology is capable of delivering the reporter protein into murine target cells both in vitro and in vivo Moreover, we demonstrate that the reporter delivery can be inhibited both in vitro and in vivo by a known anti-EBOV protective monoclonal antibody, 13C6. Our work provides a BSL-4-free system that can facilitate the in vivo evaluation of anti-EBOV antibodies, drugs, and vaccines. The system may also be useful for mechanistic study of the viral entry process.

SUBMITTER: Li D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5021419 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An Ebola Virus-Like Particle-Based Reporter System Enables Evaluation of Antiviral Drugs In Vivo under Non-Biosafety Level 4 Conditions.

Li Dapeng D Chen Tan T Hu Yang Y Zhou Yu Y Liu Qingwei Q Zhou Dongming D Jin Xia X Huang Zhong Z

Journal of virology 20160912 19

<h4>Unlabelled</h4>Ebola virus (EBOV) is a highly contagious lethal pathogen. As a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) agent, however, EBOV is restricted to costly BSL-4 laboratories for experimentation, thus significantly impeding the evaluation of EBOV vaccines and drugs. Here, we report an EBOV-like particle (EBOVLP)-based luciferase reporter system that enables the evaluation of anti-EBOV agents in vitro and in vivo outside BSL-4 facilities. Cotransfection of HEK293T cells with four plasmids encoding ...[more]

PMID: 27440895

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Project description:Research activities with infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are currently permitted only under biosafety level 3 (BSL3) containment. Here, we report the development of a single-cycle infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus replicon particle (VRP) system with a luciferase and green fluorescent protein (GFP) dual reporter that can be safely handled in BSL2 laboratories to study SARS-CoV-2 biology. The spike (S) gene of SARS-CoV-2 encodes the envelope glycoprotein, which is essential for mediating infection of new host cells. Through deletion and replacement of this essential S gene with a luciferase and GFP dual reporter, we have generated a conditional SARS-CoV-2 mutant (ΔS-VRP) that produces infectious particles only in cells expressing a viral envelope glycoprotein of choice. Interestingly, we observed more efficient production of infectious particles in cells expressing vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) glycoprotein G [ΔS-VRP(G)] than in cells expressing other viral glycoproteins, including S. We confirmed that infection from ΔS-VRP(G) is limited to a single round and can be neutralized by anti-VSV serum. In our studies with ΔS-VRP(G), we observed robust expression of both luciferase and GFP reporters in various human and murine cell types, demonstrating that a broad variety of cells can support intracellular replication of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, treatment of ΔS-VRP(G)-infected cells with either of the anti-CoV drugs remdesivir (nucleoside analog) and GC376 (CoV 3CL protease inhibitor) resulted in a robust decrease in both luciferase and GFP expression in a drug dose- and cell-type-dependent manner. Taken together, our findings show that we have developed a single-cycle infectious SARS-CoV-2 VRP system that serves as a versatile platform to study SARS-CoV-2 intracellular biology and to perform high-throughput screening of antiviral drugs under BSL2 containment. IMPORTANCE Due to the highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 and the lack of immunity in the human population, research on SARS-CoV-2 has been restricted to biosafety level 3 laboratories. This has greatly limited participation of the broader scientific community in SARS-CoV-2 research and thus has hindered the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs. By deleting the essential spike gene in the viral genome, we have developed a conditional mutant of SARS-CoV-2 with luciferase and fluorescent reporters, which can be safely used under biosafety level 2 conditions. Our single-cycle infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus replicon system can serve as a versatile platform to study SARS-CoV-2 intracellular biology and to perform high-throughput screening of antiviral drugs under BSL2 containment.

Project description:Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV) is among the deadliest known human pathogens, causing severe hemorrhagic fever with high case fatality rates ranging from 70-90%. The lack of effective vaccines or treatment available for ZEBOV renders this pathogen as a significant global biodefense threat, as evidenced by the current, highly lethal outbreak of a novel ZEBOV variant in western Africa. Existing mouse models of lethal ZEBOV infection do not reproduce hallmark symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) including prolonged blood coagulation, acute hepatitis, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and death from hemorrhagic shock, thus restricting pathogenesis studies to non-human primates (NHP). This has prevented rapid evaluation of countermeasures in outbreak scenarios, and impeded a comprehensive understanding of how host responses to infection contribute to severe EHF disease. Here we demonstrate that mice from the Collaborative Cross (CC), a panel of reproducible, recombinant inbred animals that span the genetic breadth of three murine subspecies, are susceptible to a spectrum of disease phenotypes following ZEBOV infection. In contrast to C57Bl6/J mice, which develop lethal disease without symptoms of EHF, CC recombinant inbred intercrossed (CC-RIX) lines develop either complete resistance to lethal disease or severe EHF characterized by prolonged coagulation times and 100% mortality. Disease resistance and survival is not dependent on viral tropism, as both resistant and EHF-susceptible lines show similar inflammation and cytopathic effect in target organs. Transcriptomics reveal potential mechanisms for both induction of severe hemorrhage in EHF mediated by IL-6 and vascular activation, and resistance to lethal infection by induction of lymphocyte differentiation and cellular adhesion. These data demonstrate that host responses specific to unique genetic backgrounds determine susceptibility to hemorrhagic syndrome independent of virus replication. The CC represents a novel mouse model for studying EHF pathogenesis, and we anticipate that it will be applied immediately to developing and evaluating therapeutic countermeasures. Microarrays were performed on liver and spleen samples from mice collected at days 1, 3, and 5 post-infection with mouse adapted Zaire ebolavirus or from time-matched mock-infected animals.

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An Ebola Virus-Like Particle-Based Reporter System Enables Evaluation of Antiviral Drugs In Vivo under Non-Biosafety Level 4 Conditions.

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An Ebola Virus-Like Particle-Based Reporter System Enables Evaluation of Antiviral Drugs In Vivo under Non-Biosafety Level 4 Conditions.

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