Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) A2 Expressing Firefly Luciferase

Application

Recombinant RSV strain expressing firefly luciferase and the F & G genes from clinical strain A2001/2-20 for research and development of vaccines.

Key Benefits

• F & G proteins included in this strain show different behavior than those of the typical A2 strain proteins.
• May be adapted in a variety of assays, enabling the identification of RSV virus variants.
• Useful for both in vivo and in vitro drug screening efforts.

Market Summary

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the major cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children. Oftentimes, infections lead to hospitalizations and in rare cases or underdeveloped countries can result in death. Drug and vaccine development has prompted the need for more diverse detection panels of RSV virus. Currently, there is no supportive mode of prophylaxis or efficacious vaccine for RSV.

Technical Summary

Existing methods of RSV viral expression require multiple expression plasmids making stability and integration difficult in laboratory conditions. Researchers at Emory have created an RSV strain that expresses firefly luciferase, and is comprised of the RSV F (fusion) protein and G protein from the clinical strain A2001/2-20. Both the F & G proteins included in this strain show different behavior than those of the typical A2 strain proteins. This viral strain is a strong candidate for both in vivo and in vitro drug screening efforts.

Development Stage

RSV strain is available for license.

Publication: Meng, et al. 2016. J Virol, 90:245–253.