Molecular characteristics of the immune escape of coronavirus PEDV under the pressure of vaccine immunity

作者：Yunchuan Li, Shanshan Yang, Jiali Qian, Shiyu Liu, Yupeng Li, Xu Song, Qiuxia Cao, Rongli Guo, Yongxiang Zhao, Min Sun, Mi Hu, Jizong Li, Xuehan Zhang, Baochao Fan, Bin Li · 发表于：Journal of Virology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1128/jvi.02193-24 · 被引用次数：8 · 研究领域：Animal Virus Infections Studies、SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research、Virus-based gene therapy research

ABSTRACT Coronaviruses have undergone evolutionary changes and mutations in response to the immune pressures exerted by vaccines and environmental factors, resulting in more severe consequences during breakthrough infections. Nevertheless, the specific correlation between the evolutionary mutations of coronaviruses and immune pressures remains ambiguous. Swine coronavirus—porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV)—has existed for decades. This study utilized in vivo preparation of polyclonal antibodies against the PEDV and identified critical neutralizing epitopes through serial in vitro passaging. Then, the recombinant mutated strains were successfully constructed. In vitro experiments confirmed the ability of the rA1273P strain to escape neutralization by polyclonal antibodies. Both in vitro cell studies and in vivo animal experiments revealed that the strain maintains virulence and pathogenicity while evading antibody pressure post-vaccination. The pathogenicity of the strain while evading immune pressure is comparable to wild-type strains. A comparison of the S protein gene between vaccine strains and clinical strains identified mutations in 1273 amino acid positions in clinical strains. In conclusion, this study identified a novel PEDV S protein neutralizing site under immune pressure through serial passaging, indicating that the 1,273th amino acid position is prone to mutation under prolonged antibody pressure, enhancing the virus’s ability to escape hosts. This study offer...