Hybrid alphavirus-SARS-CoV-2 particle and methodology of making and using same
AssigneeGeorge Mason Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsBrian Hetrick, Yuntao Wu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Timely development of vaccines and antiviral drugs is critical to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Current methods for quantifying vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies involve the use of pseudoviruses, such as the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) pseudotyped lentivirus. However, these pseudoviruses contain structural proteins foreign to SARS-CoV-2, and require days to infect and express reporter genes. Here, the present application discloses composition and methodology for making and using a new hybrid alphavirus-SARS-CoV-2 (Ha-CoV-2) particle for rapid and accurate quantification of neutralization antibodies and viral variants.
Claims20
A hybrid particle, comprising:
- a) a RNA genome derived from an alphavirus from a first plasmid;
- and
- b) at least one SARS-CoV-2 structural protein derived from a second plasmid differing from the first plasmid, wherein said structural protein is a spike protein (S), a membrane protein (M), an envelope protein (E), and the nucleocapsid protein (N);
- and
- wherein the hybrid particle is a hybrid pseudovirus, which is assembled and produced in a producer cell by co-transfection of the producer cell with the first plasmid and the second plasmid or plasmids.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.