engleski

Genetic plasticity and antigenic variations of vaccine and wild-type mumps virus strains

Mumps is an acute infectious disease caused by mumps virus (MuV), an RNA virus belonging to Paramyxoviridae family. The disease is usually mild with fever and swelling of the salivary glands, but more serious complications including meningitis and encephalitis may occur. Because of the high mutation rate of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, RNA viruses show considerable adaptability, genetic plasticity and antigenic variations. This characteristic is the basis for development of live attenuated viral vaccines. It is generally believed that MuV is serologically monotypic (immunity induced by one strain is protective against reinfection by any other strain). Still, cases of reinfection, though rare, have been reported as well as laboratory data demonstrating virus strain specific neutralizing antibodies. Furthermore, occurrences of mumps epidemics in countries with an ongoing vaccination programs raise the questions of vaccine efficiency, especially regarding wild type strains more divergent than the vaccine strain. Major targets for the immune response upon mumps virus infection are hemagglutinin-neuraminidase and nucleocapsid proteins. In this work, the comparisons of known antigenic epitopes between vaccine and wild-type MuV strains will be presented. The usefulness of such approach for the monitoring of MuV evolution, the prediction of vaccine efficacy and vaccine development will be discussed.

mumps; genome; vaccine

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