Efficient Production of a Lentiviral System for Displaying Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Glycoproteins Reveals a Broad Range of Cellular Susceptibility and Neutralization Ability Publisher Pubmed



Vasmehjani AA¹ ; Salehivaziri M^{2, 3} ; Azadmanesh K⁴ ; Nejati A¹ ; Pouriayevali MH³ ; Gouya MM⁵ ; Parsaeian M⁶ ; Shahmahmoodi S^{1, 7}
Source: Archives of Virology Published:2020

Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne disease with a mortality rate of up to 50% in humans. To avoid safety concerns associated with the use of live virus in virus neutralization assays and to detect human serum neutralizing antibodies, we prepared lentiviral particles containing the CCHF glycoprotein (lenti-CCHFV-GP). Incorporation of the GP into the lentiviral particle was confirmed by electron microscopy and Western blotting. Lenti-CCHFV-GP was found to be able to infect a wide range of cell lines, including BHK-21, HeLa, HepG2, and AsPC-1 cells. In addition, lenti-CCHFV-GP was successfully used as an alternative to CCHFV for the detection of neutralizing antibodies. Sera collected from CCHF survivors neutralized lenti-CCHFV-GP particles in a dose-dependent manner. Our results suggest that the lenti-CCHFV-GP pseudovirus can be used as a safe tool for neutralization assays in low-containment laboratories. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.