Nipah Virus Glycoprotein F recombinant protein (Human Fc)
Nipah virus glycoprotein F is a class I fusion protein, with typical structural features. These include heptad repeats and a hydrophobic fusion peptide that bind to each other, forming a six-helix bundle which functions in membrane fusion processes. Nipah Virus attaches to target cells via glycoprotein G, which then undergoes a conformational change leading to triggering of Nipah virus glycoprotein F which leads to membrane fusion (Biering et al, 2012).
The Native Antigen Company Nipah virus glycoprotein F is a recombinant protein expressed in mammalian HEK293 cells. It is presented as a fusion protein with a human Fc tag linked to the C-terminus of glycoprotein F, amino acids 1-486. This protein migrates at approximately 85-90kD in reducing SDS-PAGE analysis
Nipah virus (NiV) is an enveloped single stranded negative sense RNA virus that belongs to the Henipavirus genus, which is a new member of the Paramyxoviridae family. Nipah infection was first recognised in Malaysia 1998/1999, where a major NiV outbreak occurred in pigs and humans. A subsequent outbreak of NiV in Singapore also pointed to pigs as an intermediate host. However, outbreaks in India and Bangladesh did not. The natural host for NiV has now been identified as the fruit bat, of the Pteropus genus, with swine acting as intermediate host in some cases. Reports suggest that transmission of Nipah virus to humans can occur through contact with NiV infected bats, food contaminated by bat’s excrement, infected pigs and other NiV infected humans.
Nipah, the disease caused by NiV infection is now endemic in South Asia and several outbreaks of NiV infection have been reported in India and Bangladesh. The symptoms of Nipah virus infection in humans can include rapidly developing fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, acute respiratory syndrome and severe encephalitis, which is fatal in a high percentage of cases (WHO).
In 2015, the World Health Organization highlighted NiV infection as an emerging disease requiring accelerated R&D to advance in vitro diagnostic development, vaccine design and therapeutics (WHO, 2015).
References
Biering, S.B et al (2012). J. Virol. 86:11991
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Nipah Virus (NiV)
World Health Organization: Nipah Virus (NiV) infection
World Health Organization: WHO publishes list of top emerging diseases likely to cause major epidemics
Certificate of analysis
Safety Datasheet
