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Updated: Jul 12, 2025
Intranasal Administration of Recombinant Influenza Vaccines in Chimeric Mouse Models to Study Mucosal Immunity
Published on: June 25, 2015
Immunized mice naturally process in silico-derived peptides from the nucleocapsid of SARS-CoV-2
Mario Aldair Campos-Ruíz1, Berenice Illades-Aguiar2, Oscar Del Moral-Hernández3
1Laboratorio de Inmunobiología y Diagnóstico Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero, México.
Background:
The nucleocapsid (N) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an excellent immunogen that promotes the production of high-titer antibodies. N protein-derived peptides identified using a bioinformatics approach can potentially be used to develop a new generation of vaccines or diagnostic methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. However, further studies must demonstrate their capacity to be naturally processed by the immune system.
Objective:
We aimed to examine the in vivo processing and recognition of in silico-identified peptides using the serum of immunized animals with the complete protein.
Methods:
Recombinant N (Nrec) protein was subcutaneously administered to six Balb/c mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blotting, dot blotting, and immunoprecipitation were performed to evaluate the recognition of the complete protein and in silico-derived peptides.
Results:
The serum of immunized mice recognized ~ 62.5 ng/µL of Nrec with high specificity to linear and conformational epitopes. Dot blot analysis showed that peptides Npep2 and Npep3 were the most reactive.
Conclusion:
Our data confirm the high immunogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 N protein and provide evidence on the antigenicity of two peptides located in the N-arm/RNA-binding domain (Npep2) and oligomerization domain/C-tail (Npep3), considered the biologically active site of the N protein.
