Abstract

KOSAKA, Ithana Monteiro; CARROMEU, Cassiano; DURIGON, Edison Luiz  and  VENTURA, Armando Morais. Construction of adenoviral vectors expressing F and G glycoproteins of human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV). Braz. J. Microbiol. [online]. 2004, vol.35, n.1-2, pp. 167-172. ISSN 1517-8382.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1517-83822004000100028.

Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (HRSV) was first characterized in 1957 and has since been recognized as the most common viral cause of severe respiratory tract infection in young infants worldwide. Despite many years of research there is still no effective treatment or any immediate prospect of a vaccine. The HRSV genome is composed of single stranded negative sense RNA and the virion consists of a nucleocapsid packaged within a lipid envelope. The envelope contains spike-like projections, each being a homo-oligomer of one of three transmembrane viral envelope proteins: the attachment protein G, the fusion protein F involved in viral penetration and the small hydrofobic protein SH. The aim of this work was to construct two recombinant replication-defective adenoviruses carrying separately F and G genes from HRSV. This system was chosen because adenovirus delivers genes into target cells with high efficiency in a variety of cell lines and can be used in vitro and in vivo. In order to obtain the recombinant viruses, we did RT-PCR of RNA extracted from the HRSV A2 strain, the genes F and G were cloned in to pAdeno-X vectors. pAdeno-F and pAdeno-G were transfected in HEK-293 cells for the production of recombinant viruses, that expressed efficiently these two proteins and provide us the means for doing functional assays and immunization tests.

Keywords : Respiratory Syncytial Virus; adenoviral vectors; protein Expression; HRSV F protein; HRSV G protein.