我国汉坦病毒基因型和基因亚型的分布研究

为了搞清全国汉坦病毒的基因型和亚型的分布情况,广泛收集了全国各地汉坦病毒毒株、阳性病人血清和阳性鼠肺,并应用RT-PCR的方法,应用汉坦病毒型特异性引物,对这些不同来源的阳性标本中汉坦病毒型特异性M和S片段进行扩增和测序,并与其它已知病毒序列进行比较,以明确其型别和亚型及其在全国的分布情况.结果表明:我国HFRS各疫区仍然为HTNV和SEOV两型病毒,但亚型分布差异较大,其中HTNV可分为9个亚型,SEOV则有4～6个亚型.Q32株的部分M和S片段分属于H9和H2亚型,是一个基因重排病毒,而Nc167株在系统发生上与其它HTNV明显不同,比较核苷酸序列发现,其M片段与其它HTNV的同源性在71.3%～76.7%之间,S片段与其它HTNV的同源性只有52.3%～57.8%,可能是一个新型病毒.     

逆转录-聚合酶链反应结合限制性片段长度多态性分析对我国肾综合征出血热病毒分型的研究(英文)

建立准确、快速、灵敏的汉坦病毒基因分型方法,可弥补传统血清学方法的不足,对防治该病毒所致的肾综合征出血热(HFRS)具有重要意义。本试验采用逆转录－聚合酶反应(RT-PCR)和限制性片段长度多态性(RFLP)和限制性片段长度多态性(RFLP)方法,对流行于我国的两型汉坦病毒代表株??汉滩型(HTNV)76－118和汉城型(SEOV)R22株进行基因分析。根据病毒DNA序列的电脑软件分析,不同HFRSV囊膜糖蛋白编码基因M节段1199~1497间核苷酸序列上RsaI、TaqI和HindIII的酶切位点存在差异(Fig.1), 可用于进行限制性内切酶基因多态性分析,以确定HFRV的型别。首先,以一对引物扩增该片段(Fig.2)。然后,分别用这三种内切酶(Fig.3,4,5)进行酶切分型。共分析了从我国不同地区,不同宿主分离的毒株18株,及国际标准毒株2株,酶切图谱显示,这些毒株可以被分为三组(Table.1)：9株可定为HTNV型,8株可定为SEOV型,3株无法确定其型别(X型)。该法分型结果与血清学经典的空斑减数中和试验分型结果基本一致,说明该酶切分型方法具有一定的可行性。     

DNA vaccination with the Hantaan virus M gene protects Hamsters against three of four HFRS hantaviruses and elicits a high-titer neutralizing antibody response in Rhesus monkeys

Four hantaviruses-Hantaan virus (HTNV), Seoul virus (SEOV), Dobrava virus (DOBV) and Puumala virus-are known to cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Europe and Asia. HTNV causes the most severe form of HFRS (5 to 15% case-fatality rate) and afflicts tens of thousands of people annually. Previously, we demonstrated that DNA vaccination with a plasmid expressing the SEOV M gene elicited neutralizing antibodies and protected hamsters against infection with SEOV and HTNV. Here, we report the construction and evaluation of a DNA vaccine that expresses the HTNV M gene products, G1 and G2. DNA vaccination of hamsters with the HTNV M gene conferred sterile protection against infection with HTNV, SEOV, and DOBV. DNA vaccination of rhesus monkeys with either the SEOV or HTNV M gene elicited high levels of neutralizing antibodies. These are the first immunogenicity data for hantavirus DNA vaccines in nonhuman primates. Because a neutralizing antibody response is considered a surrogate marker for protective immunity in humans, our protection data in hamsters combined with the immunogenicity data in monkeys suggest that hantavirus M gene-based DNA vaccines could protect humans against the most severe forms of HFRS.     

不同来源的肾综合征出血热病毒对Vero细胞的致病变作用

前文报道,肾综合征出血热病毒76-118株能使Vero细胞产生病变。本文报道76-118株和另11株不同来源的肾综合征出血热病毒(H537、A9、H5、R178、HB55、R22、Z10,沟3、L99、A16和J10)对Vero细胞的致病变作用(CPE )。其中除沟3株外,大部分毒株在感染Vero细胞后的第一代即可见明显的CPE。CPE的特点与76-118株相似,主要是感染细胞粘聚、融合,形成网状结构。CPE能被特异性抗HFRS病毒血清和型特异性单克隆抗体所中和抑制,但不能被特异性抗呼肠孤病毒Ⅲ型免疫血清所中和抑制。HFRS病毒对Vero细胞的致病变作用,对进一步研究HFRS病毒的某些生物学特性及实验方法等均有重要意义。     

Urinary genome detection and tracking of Hantaan virus from hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome patients using multiplex PCR-based next-generation sequencing

BackgroundHantavirus infection occurs through the inhalation of aerosolized excreta, including urine, feces, and saliva of infected rodents. The presence of Hantaan virus (HTNV) RNA or infectious particles in urine specimens of patient with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) remains to be investigated.Methodology/Principal findingsWe collected four urine and serum specimens of Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) patients with HFRS. We performed multiplex PCR-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) to obtain the genome sequences of clinical HTNV in urine specimens containing ultra-low amounts of viral genomes. The epidemiological and phylogenetic analyses of HTNV demonstrated geographically homogenous clustering with those in Apodemus agrarius captured in highly endemic areas, indicating that phylogeographic tracing of HTNV genomes reveals the potential infection sites of patients with HFRS. Genetic exchange analyses showed a genetic configuration compatible with HTNV L segment exchange in nature.Conclusion/SignificanceOur results suggest that whole or partial genome sequences of HTNV from the urine enabled to track the putative infection sites of patients with HFRS by phylogeographically linking to the zoonotic HTNV from the reservoir host captured at endemic regions. This report raises awareness among physicians for the presence of HTNV in the urine of patients with HFRS.     

The in vitro and in vivo protective activity of monoclonal antibodies directed against Hantaan virus: potential application for immunotherapy and passive immunization

Hantaan virus (HTNV), a member of the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae, is an etiologic agent causing a serious human disease, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), with a mortality as high as 15% and is also a potential bioterrorism agent. It is urgently needed to develop anti-HTNV-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for treatment and prevention of HTNV infection. In the present study, 18 murine MAbs directed against HTNV strain Chen were generated and characterized. Among these MAbs, 13 were directed against viral nucleocapsid protein (NP), four recognized the viral envelope glycoprotein G2 and one reacted with both NP and G2. Only those MAbs that recognize the epitopes on G2 were positive in hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and had in vitro virus-neutralizing activity and in vivo protective activity against HTNV infection of susceptible mice. Since all the mice were protected by administration of the virus-neutralizing MAbs one day before and two days after HTNV challenge, these neutralizing MAbs are potentially useful for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis and for immunotherapy of HTNV infection. Phase II clinical trials of these neutralizing MAbs for emergent treatment of patients with HTNV infection in early stages of HRFS are carried out in endemic areas in China.     

Isolation of virus causing hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) through a cell culture system

Twenty-three rat lung specimens collected in outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in three medical institutions were inoculated onto the VERO-E6 cell monolayers. After several blind passages, an agent growing serially in the cell cultures and reacting specifically with known HFRS-positive sera was isolated from two of these specimens. The two isolates were antigenically identical each other. The agent, named strain SR-11, was identified as the causative virus of HFRS by its antigenic identity with E6 cell-adapted HFRS virus, Hantaan 76-118 strain, and the specific reactions with sera from various HFRS cases.     

汉坦病毒H8205部分核壳蛋白基因在E.coli中的表达

根据汉坦病毒Ｈ８２０５株ＮＰ基因的序列,设计一对引物,扩增ＮＰ前２９２个氨基酸多肽基因片段,克隆于表达载体ｐＧＥＸ３Ｘ,与载体中２６ｋＤ的谷胱苷肽巯基转移酶（ＧＳＴ）融合表达。ＳＤＳＰＡＧＥ显示表达产物（ＧＳＴＮＰ）主要以包涵体形式存在。Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎｂｌｏｔｉｎｇ表明此融合蛋白有抗原性。包涵体经分离、洗涤、溶解后,Ｓｅｐｈａｒｏｓｅ６Ｂ层析纯化,用此融合蛋白作抗原,进行ＥＬＩＳＡ法检测临床ＨＦＲＳ病人标本的ＩｇＧ和ＩｇＭ,有很好的特异性和敏感性。有生物活性的汉坦病毒Ｈ８２０５ＮＰ的体外表达成功,为汉坦病毒基因工程抗原的大量制备奠定了基础,也为汉坦病毒的临床检测和流行病学调查提供了一种廉价、安全、可靠的抗原。     

汉坦病毒H8205部分核壳蛋白基因在E.coli中的表达

根据汉坦病毒H8205株NP基因的序列,设计一对引物,扩增NP前292个氨基酸多肽基因片段,克隆于表达载体pGEX-3X,与载体中26kD的谷胱苷肽巯基转移酶(GST)融合表达.SDS-PAGE显示表达产物(GST-NP)主要以包涵体形式存在.Western-blotting表明此融合蛋白有抗原性.包涵体经分离、洗涤、溶解后,Sepharose 6B层析纯化,用此融合蛋白作抗原,进行ELISA法检测临床HFRS病人标本的IgG和IgM,有很好的特异性和敏感性.有生物活性的汉坦病毒H8205 NP的体外表达成功,为汉坦病毒基因工程抗原的大量制备奠定了基础,也为汉坦病毒的临床检测和流行病学调查提供了一种廉价、安全、可靠的抗原.     

汉坦病毒结构蛋白的鉴定及其应用

对差速离心纯化的汉坦病毒R84-1毒株进行了SDS-PAGE和免疫印迹试验。发现有67k和43k两条蛋白区带能与汉坦病毒抗体起反应。经单克隆抗体鉴定,67k多肽可能属病毒囊膜蛋白,43k多肽未定。用免疫印迹法对出血热患者进行检测,初步证明野鼠型感染者具有上述两种蛋白抗原的抗体,大鼠型患者仅具有67k蛋白的抗体,这对出血热患者血清学分型有重要意义。     

Monitoring Neutralization Property Change of Evolving Hantaan and Seoul Viruses with a Novel Pseudovirus-Based Assay

The Hantaan virus(HTNV) and Seoul virus(SEOV) mutants have accumulated over time. It is important to determine whether their neutralizing epitopes have evolved, thereby making the current vaccine powerless. However, it is impossible to determine by using traditional plaque reduction neutralization test(PRNT), because it requires large numbers of live mutant strains. Pseudovirus-based neutralization assays(PBNA) were developed by employing vesicular stomatitis virus(VSV) backbone incorporated with HTNV or SEOV glycoproteins(VSVDG*-HTNVG or VSVDG*-SEOVG). 56 and 51 single amino acid substitutions of glycoprotein(GP) in HTNV and SEOV were selected and introduced into the reference plasmid. Then the mutant pseudoviruses were generated and tested by PBNA. The PBNA results were highly correlated with PRNT ones with R2 being 0.91 for VSVDG*-HTNVG and 0.82 for VSVDG*-SEOVG. 53 HTNV mutant pseudoviruses and 46 SEOV mutants were successfully generated. Importantly, by using PBNA, we found that HTNV or SEOV immunized antisera could neutralize all the corresponding 53 HTNV mutants or the 46 SEOV mutants respectively. The novel PBNA enables us to closely monitor the effectiveness of vaccines against large numbers of evolving HTNV and SEOV. And the current vaccine remains to be effective for the naturally occurring mutants.     

多聚酶链反应技术鉴别肾综合征出血热病毒血清型的初步研究

肾综合征出血热(HFRS)为一组抗原性密切相关的布尼亚科汉坦病毒引起的急性传染病。在我国存在至少两种临床表现、动物宿主及流行特征截然不同的血清型别,即血清Ⅰ型(汉坦型)和血清Ⅱ型(汉城型)。这两型病毒间的血清学定型已有报道。近年来,除啮齿类动物外,从临床病人以及非啮齿类动物体内也分离到了HFRS病毒。同时出现两类型别毒株共存,以及从家鼠体内分离到野鼠型毒株或从野鼠体内分离到家鼠型毒株的复杂情形。为此,准确检定并鉴别不同来源毒株型别,将为深入了解其病原学、流行病学以及制定疫苗生产策略提供重要信息。     

汉坦病毒中国疫苗株Z37M片段的克隆及序列分析

汉坦病毒Z37株是从褐家鼠体内分离到的,用于生产双价肾综合征出血热疫苗的病毒毒株之一,血清分型为SEO型。利用RT-PCR方法扩增Z37株M基因片段cDNA,克隆入质粒载体,进行核苷酸序列测定及分析。Z37株M基因片段由3651个核苷酸组成,只有一个开放读码框架,共编码1133个氨基酸。与HTN型病毒(76-118、A9、HV-114)的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性分别为71.8%～72.1%、76.2%～76.7%,与SEO型(R22、L99、80-39)的核苷酸和氨基酸同源性分别为95.3%～96.1%、95.3%～98.9%。这一结果的获得进一步从分子水平确定了Z37株的型别,并为研制M基因片段重组疫苗打下基础。     

Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay for the Simultaneous Detection of Antibodies against Clinically Important Old and New World Hantaviruses

In order to detect serum antibodies against clinically important Old and New World hantaviruses simultaneously, multiparametric indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFAs) based on biochip mosaics were developed. Each of the mosaic substrates consisted of cells infected with one of the virus types Hantaan (HTNV), Puumala (PUUV), Seoul (SEOV), Saaremaa (SAAV), Dobrava (DOBV), Sin Nombre (SNV) or Andes (ANDV). For assay evaluation, serum IgG and IgM antibodies were analyzed using 184 laboratory-confirmed hantavirus-positive sera collected at six diagnostic centers from patients actively or previously infected with the following hantavirus serotypes: PUUV (Finland, n = 97); SEOV (China, n = 5); DOBV (Romania, n = 7); SNV (Canada, n = 23); ANDV (Argentina and Chile, n = 52). The control panel comprised 89 sera from healthy blood donors. According to the reference tests, all 184 patient samples were seropositive for hantavirus-specific IgG (n = 177; 96%) and/or IgM (n = 131; 72%), while all control samples were tested negative. In the multiparametric IFA applied in this study, 183 (99%) of the patient sera were IgG and 131 (71%) IgM positive (accordance with the reference tests: IgG, 96%; IgM, 93%). Overall IFA sensitivity for combined IgG and IgM analysis amounted to 100% for all serotypes, except for SNV (96%). Of the 89 control sera, 2 (2%) showed IgG reactivity against the HTNV substrate, but not against any other hantavirus. Due to the high cross-reactivity of hantaviral nucleocapsid proteins, endpoint titrations were conducted, allowing serotype determination in >90% of PUUV- and ANDV-infected patients. Thus, multiparametric IFA enables highly sensitive and specific serological diagnosis of hantavirus infections and can be used to differentiate PUUV and ANDV infection from infections with Murinae-borne hantaviruses (e.g. DOBV and SEOV).     

Screening and identification of HTNVpv entry inhibitors with high-throughput pseudovirus-based chemiluminescence

Hantaviruses, such as Hantaan virus (HTNV) and Seoul virus, are the causative agents of Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), and are important zoonotic pathogens. China has the highest incidence of HFRS, which is mainly caused by HTNV and Seoul virus. No approved antiviral drugs are available for these hantaviral diseases. Here, a chemiluminescence-based high-throughput-screening (HTS) assay was developed and used to screen HTNV pseudovirus (HTNV_pv) inhibitors in a library of 1813 approved drugs and 556 small-molecule compounds from traditional Chinese medicine sources. We identified six compounds with in vitro anti-HTNV_pv activities in the low-micromolar range (EC₅₀ values of 0.1–2.2 μmol/L; selectivity index of 40–900). Among the six selected compounds, cepharanthine not only showed good anti-HTNV_pv activity in vitro but also inhibited HTNV_pv-fluc infection in Balb/c mice 5 h after infection by 94% (180 mg/kg/d, P < 0.01), 93% (90 mg/kg/d, P < 0.01), or 92% (45 mg/kg/d, P < 0.01), respectively, in a bioluminescent imaging mouse model. A time-of-addition analysis suggested that the antiviral mechanism of cepharanthine involves the membrane fusion and entry phases. Overall, we have established a HTS method for antiviral drugs screening, and shown that cepharanthine is a candidate for HCPS and HFRS therapy. These findings may offer a starting point for the treatment of patients infected with hantaviruses.     

Geo-spatial hotspots of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and genetic characterization of Seoul variants in Beijing, China

Background

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is highly endemic in mainland China, and has extended from rural areas to cities recently. Beijing metropolis is a novel affected region, where the HFRS incidence seems to be diverse from place to place.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The spatial scan analysis based on geographical information system (GIS) identified three geo-spatial “hotspots” of HFRS in Beijing when the passive surveillance data from 2004 to 2006 were used. The Relative Risk (RR) of the three “hotspots” was 5.45, 3.57 and 3.30, respectively. The Phylogenetic analysis based on entire coding region sequence of S segment and partial L segment sequence of Seoul virus (SEOV) revealed that the SEOV strains circulating in Beijing could be classified into at least three lineages regardless of their host origins. Two potential recombination events that happened in lineage #1 were detected and supported by comparative phylogenetic analysis. The SEOV strains in different lineages and strains with distinct special amino acid substitutions for N protein were partially associated with different spatial clustered areas of HFRS.

Conclusion/Significance

Hotspots of HFRS were found in Beijing, a novel endemic region, where intervention should be enhanced. Our data suggested that the genetic variation and recombination of SEOV strains was related to the high risk areas of HFRS, which merited further investigation.