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Bernard Moss and Himani Bisht answers a few questions about this month's
new hot paper in the field of Microbiology.
From
•>>September 2005
Field:
Microbiology
Article Title: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
spike protein expressed by attenuated vaccinia virus protectively immunizes mice
Authors:
Bisht,
H;Roberts, A;Vogel, L;Bukreyev, A;Collins, PL;Murphy, BR;Subbarao,
K;Moss, B
Journal: PROC NAT ACAD SCI USA
Volume: 101
Page: 6641-6646
Year: APR 27 2004
* NIAID, Viral Dis Lab, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA.
* NIAID, Viral Dis Lab, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA.
* NIAID, Infect Dis Lab, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA.
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 Why
do you think your paper is highly cited?
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“The paper describes a highly attenuated recombinant vaccinia virus that expresses the SARS coronavirus spike protein”
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The SARS coronavirus
is the agent of an emerging human disease, which has received a
great deal of attention during the past two years.
Does
it describe a new discovery or a new methodology that’s useful to
others?
The paper describes a highly attenuated recombinant vaccinia virus
that expresses the SARS coronavirus spike protein. We found that the
expressed spike protein is glycosylated and inserted into the plasma
membrane. More importantly, mice immunized intramuscularly with the
vector produced neutralizing antibodies and were protected against a
respiratory challenge with the SARS coronavirus. The importance of
antibody was established by transferring immunity with sera from
immunized mice.
Could
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?
We used a mouse model to demonstrate that protection against the
SARS coronavirus can be achieved with a safe recombinant vaccine.
The vaccine is incapable of causing SARS. However, additional
studies with other animal models and humans are needed to further
evaluate the efficacy of this vaccine.
How
did you become involved in this research?
Our laboratory has pioneered in the development of replicating
and non-replicating vaccinia virus vectors for protection against
infectious agents. The SARS coronavirus study is a continuation of
this research.
Bernard Moss M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Viral Diseases
NIAID, NIH
Bethesda, MD, USA
Himani Bisht, Ph.D.
Visiting Fellow
Laboratory of Viral Diseases
NIAID, NIH
Bethesda, MD, USA
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ESI Special Topics,
September 2005
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/2005/september-05-Moss_Bisht.html
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