Data underlying the research on development of a feline coronavirus spike protein-expressing mRNA vaccine and immune response in mice and cats

No effective vaccine exists against feline coronavirus infection. Coronavirus spike (S) protein is rich in antigen epitopes and can mediate the production of antibodies that infect the host. Therefore, we developed an S protein for the development of a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine. In this study, we constructed in vitro transcription (IVT)-mRNAs with different untranslated regions (UTRs) (i.e., IVT-mRNA-n1, IVT-mRNA-n2, and IVT-mRNA-n3) and introduced enhanced green fluorescent protein into the S protein separately. The best IVT was selected. The lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mRNA vaccine was assembled with cationic LNPs to evaluate the expression of the target gene in vitro and the immune response in mice and cats. The results revealed that the 5’ and 3’ UTRs patterns derived from human α-globulin were the best. The developed mRNA vaccine could induce cats to produce S protein-specific antibodies, and increase interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-4, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression. The feline coronavirus mRNA vaccine developed in this study provided a basis for subsequent immunization of felines. In addition, the optimization of target genes, incorporation of UTR, and selection of delivery vectors in this study provided a basis for optimizing the FCoV mRNA vaccine platform.<br><br>目前尚无针对猫冠状病毒感染的有效疫苗。冠状病毒刺突蛋白（S）富含抗原表位，能够介导感染宿主的抗体产生。因此，我们开发了一种S蛋白，用于开发信使核糖核酸（mRNA）疫苗。本研究构建了具有不同非翻译区（UTR）（即IVT-mRNA-n1、IVT-mRNA-n2和IVT-mRNA-n3）的体外转录（IVT）-mRNA，并将增强绿色荧光蛋白分别引入S蛋白。最终选出了最佳IVT。脂质纳米颗粒（LNP）-mRNA疫苗与阳离子LNP组装，用于体外评估靶基因的表达及小鼠和猫的免疫反应。结果显示，来自人类α球蛋白的5'和3' UTRs模式是最佳的。开发的mRNA疫苗可诱导猫产生S蛋白特异性抗体，并增加干扰素（IFN）-γ、白介素（IL）-4和肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α表达。本研究开发的猫冠状病毒mRNA疫苗为后续猫咪免疫提供了基础。此外，本研究中靶基因的优化、UTR的加入以及递送载体的选择为优化FCoV mRNA疫苗平台奠定了基础。