黄病毒属病毒E蛋白结构和功能研究进展

Recent advances on the structure and function of E protein of Flaviviruses

黄病毒属病毒是单股正链RNA病毒,病毒基因组编码至少三种结构蛋白(衣壳蛋白C、膜蛋白M和包膜蛋白E)和七种非结构蛋白。其中E蛋白是病毒的重要抗原成分,包含有中和抗原表位和型特异性抗原表位,决定了病毒的细胞嗜性和毒力,与病毒的吸附、穿入、致病等作用密切相关,并且具有血凝活性,能刺激机体产生中和抗体和血凝抑制抗体。研究E蛋白的结构与功能对于深入了解黄病毒致病机制和免疫应答特点,研发疫苗和特异性抗病毒药物均有重要的指导意义。为此,综述了近年来黄病毒E蛋白有关结构与功能的研究进展及其生物学意义。

The Flaviviruses are single-stranded positive-sense RNA encoding at least three structural proteins and seven non-structural proteins. As the major antigen of flaviviruses,the envelope（ E） glycoprotein is involved in various biological events,such as virus attachment,fusion,penetration,hemogglutination,host range and cell tropism. The flavivirus E protein contains epitopes critical for eliciting neutralizing antibodies and hemogglutination inhibition antibodies against the viruses. Therefore the study on the structure and function of E protein will provide useful information for further understanding molecular mechanism of pathogenicity and feature of immune responses of flaviviruses as well as developing vaccines and anti-viral drugs. This short review will focus on the recent advancement of the structure and function of flavivirus E protein and its biological significance.