C-terminal truncation of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein enhances the virulence and immunogenicity of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine strain V4.

Xiangfei Ren, Zhe Zeng, Yu Shang, Lun Yao, Li Li, Wenting Zhang, Yunqing Guo, Hongcai Wang, Rongrong Zhang, Huabin Shao, Sishun Hu, Qingping Luo, Guoyuan Wen

Archives of virology 2023 Jul 07

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The hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a multifunctional protein with receptor recognition ability that plays an important role in the infection of cells by NDV. An alignment of NDV HN protein sequences of different genotypes showed that vaccine strains of NDV, such as the LaSota strain, generally have an HN protein of 577 amino acids. In comparison, the HN protein of the V4 strain has 616 amino acids, with 39 more amino acids at the C-terminus. In this study, we generated a recombinant NDV (rNDV) with a 39-amino-acid truncation at the HN C-terminus based on the full-length cDNA clone of the V4 strain. This rNDV, named rV4-HN-tr, displayed thermostability similar to that of the parental V4 strain. However, growth kinetics and pathogenicity analysis suggested that rV4-HN-tr is more virulent than the V4 strain. Notably, the C-terminus of HN affected the ability of the virus to adsorb onto cells. Structural predictions further suggested that the C-terminus of HN may obstruct the sialic acid binding site. Immunization of chickens with rV4-HN-tr induced a 3.5-fold higher level of NDV-specific antibodies than that obtained with the V4 strain and provided 100% immune protection against NDV challenge. Our study suggests that rV4-HN-tr is a thermostable, safe, and highly efficient vaccine candidate against Newcastle disease. © 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.

Citation

Xiangfei Ren, Zhe Zeng, Yu Shang, Lun Yao, Li Li, Wenting Zhang, Yunqing Guo, Hongcai Wang, Rongrong Zhang, Huabin Shao, Sishun Hu, Qingping Luo, Guoyuan Wen. C-terminal truncation of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein enhances the virulence and immunogenicity of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine strain V4. Archives of virology. 2023 Jul 07;168(8):203