Development of subunit vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Du, Lanying; He, Yuxian; Jiang, Shibo; Zheng, Bo-Jian

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a novel infectious disease caused by SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Although SARS appears to have been successfully contained, there is still a risk for its reemergence due to sporadic laboratory accidents or the presence of a natural reservoir for SARS-CoV-like virus. Therefore, the development of effective vaccines against SARS-CoV continues to be the current focus of SARS research. This review will first describe the rationale for developing safe and effective SARS vaccines, followed by elucidating viral antigens that could be used as potential vaccine components. After comparing current vaccine categories against SARS, this article will demonstrate the advantages of subunit vaccines, describe the current situation of developing subunit vaccines, and point out the possibility for further improvement of subunit SARS vaccines. This suggests that recombinant protein/peptide-based subunit vaccines containing the spike protein, especially the receptor-bind domain of SARS-CoV, could be developed as safe and effective SARS vaccines.