ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1625670
Virus-like particles containing the extracellular domain of G protein in combination with a CTL peptide of M2 elicit protection against respiratory syncytial virus infection without pulmonary disease
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuhan Children's Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, wuhan, China
- 2Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant respiratory pathogen affecting both infants and the elderly. Although three RSV vaccines have been approved for people over the age of 60 or pregnant, there are ongoing efforts to develop novel vaccines or immunoprophylaxis for RSV infection. In this study, we generated and characterized the virus-like particles (GECD-VLPs) containing the extracellular domain (GECD) of RSV G protein and VLPs containing GECD fused with the CTL epitope M282-90 of M2 (GECD/M282-90-VLPs), using a recombinant baculovirus (rBV)-insect cell expression system. We investigated the immune response and the protective efficacy against RSV by these VLPs in a mouse model. VLPs vaccination stimulated the production of RSV-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies, providing defense against RSV infection. Compared to GECD-VLPs, GECD/M282-90-VLPs elicited a significantly up-regulative expression of IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α and IL-10 and significantly down-regulative production of IL-4 and IL-5. Upon RSV challenge, the mice vaccinated with GECD/M282-90-VLPs exhibited a substantially raised proportion of CD25 + Foxp3 + Treg cells and decreasing percentage of Th17 cells in the lungs. Vaccination with GECD/M282-90-VLPs elicited a balanced immune response and conferred protection against RSV infection without immunopathology. These data demonstrated that the GECD/M282-90-VLPs is a potential RSV subunit vaccine candidate.
Keywords: respiratory syncytial virus, Virus-like particles, Vaccine, G protein, baculovirusinsect cell expression system
Received: 09 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 QIN, Luo and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zishu Pan, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
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