Optimization of Cellular Transduction by the HIV-Based Pseudovirus Platform with Pan-Coronavirus Spike Proteins

Authors

Syamala Rani Thimmiraju
Maria Jose Villar
Jason T Kimata
Ulrich Strych
Maria Elena Bottazzi
Peter J Hotez
Jeroen Pollet

Publication Date

9-20-2024

Journal

Viruses

DOI

10.3390/v16091492

PMID

39339968

PMCID

PMC11437443

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

9-20-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

Humans, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, HIV-1, HEK293 Cells, Transduction, Genetic, Viral Pseudotyping, Genetic Vectors, COVID-19, Neutralization Tests, coronaviruses, lentiviral pseudoviruses, transduction efficiency, neutralizing antibodies, spinoculation, polybrene

Abstract

Over the past three years, new SARS-CoV-2 variants have continuously emerged, evolving to a point where an immune response against the original vaccine no longer provided optimal protection against these new strains. During this time, high-throughput neutralization assays based on pseudoviruses have become a valuable tool for assessing the efficacy of new vaccines, screening updated vaccine candidates against emerging variants, and testing the efficacy of new therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies. Lentiviral vectors derived from HIV-1 are popular for developing pseudo and chimeric viruses due to their ease of use, stability, and long-term transgene expression. However, the HIV-based platform has lower transduction rates for pseudotyping coronavirus spike proteins than other pseudovirus platforms, necessitating more optimized methods. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus evolved, we produced over 18 variants of the spike protein for pseudotyping with an HIV-based vector, optimizing experimental parameters for their production and transduction. In this article, we present key parameters that were assessed to improve such technology, including (a) the timing and method of collection of pseudovirus supernatant; (b) the timing of host cell transduction; (c) cell culture media replenishment after pseudovirus adsorption; and (d) the centrifugation (spinoculation) parameters of the host cell+ pseudovirus mix, towards improved transduction. Additionally, we found that, for some pseudoviruses, the addition of a cationic polymer (polybrene) to the culture medium improved the transduction process. These findings were applicable across variant spike pseudoviruses that include not only SARS-CoV-2 variants, but also SARS, MERS, Alpha Coronavirus (NL-63), and bat-like coronaviruses. In summary, we present improvements in transduction efficiency, which can broaden the dynamic range of the pseudovirus titration and neutralization assays.