Nanoparticle vaccines based on the receptor binding domain of porcine deltacoronavirus elicit robust protective immune responses in mice

Background Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), a novel swine enteropathogenic coronavirus, challenges the global swine industry. Currently, there are no approaches preventing swine from PDCoV infection.Methods A new PDCoV strain named JS2211 was isolated. Next, the dimer receptor binding domain of PDCoV spike protein (RBD-dimer) was expressed using the prokaryotic expression system, and a novel nanoparticle containing RBD-dimer and ferritin (SC-Fe) was constructed using the SpyTag/SpyCatcher system. Finally, the immunoprotection of RBD-Fe nanoparticles was evaluated in mice.Results The novel PDCoV strain was located in the clade of the late Chinese isolate strains and close to the United States strains. The RBD-Fe nanoparticles were successfully established. Immune responses of the homologous prime-boost regime showed that RBD-Fe nanoparticles efficiently elicited specific humoral and cellular immune responses in mice. Notably, high level PDCoV RBD-specific IgG and neutralizing antibody (NA) could be detected, and the histopathological results showed that PDCoV infection was dramatically reduced in mice immunized with RBD-Fe nanoparticles.Conclusion This study effectively developed a candidate nanoparticle with receptor binding domain of PDCoV spike protein that offers protection against PDCoV infection in mice.