Mutations introduced into four types of parainfluenza viruses to stabilize the metastable prefusion shape of glycoproteins that enable virus entry into cells resulted in up to 500-fold higher neutralizing immune responses to the virus, compared with unmutated glycoproteins in their more stable postfusion shape; shape-based stabilization has been shown to induce neutralizing immune response against respiratory syncytial virus, hence shape-stabilized glycoproteins may be a general class of vaccines against widespread parainfluenzas and related pathogens, according to the authors.
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Article #18-11980: "Structure-based design of a quadrivalent fusion glycoprotein vaccine for human parainfluenza virus types 1-4," by Guillaume Stewart-Jones et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Peter D. Kwong, National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; tel: 301-594-8439; e-mail: < pdkwong@nih.gov >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences