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Review
. 2024 Sep 30;16(10):1547.
doi: 10.3390/v16101547.

The Role of Nucleocapsid Protein (NP) in the Immunology of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV)

Aysegul Pirincal  1 , Mehmet Z Doymaz  1
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Nucleocapsid Protein (NP) in the Immunology of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV)

Aysegul Pirincal et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is an orthonairovirus from the Bunyavirales order that is widely distributed geographically and causes severe or fatal infections in humans. The viral genome consists of three segmented negative-sense RNA molecules. The CCHFV nucleocapsid protein (CCHFV NP) is encoded by the smallest segment of the virus. CCHFV NP, the primary function of which is the encapsidation of viral RNA molecules, plays a critical role in various mechanisms important for viral replication and pathogenesis. This review is an attempt to revisit the literature available on the highly immunogenic and highly conserved CCHFV NP, summarizing the multifunctional roles of this protein in the immunology of CCHFV. Specifically, the review addresses the impact of CCHFV NP on innate, humoral, and cellular immune responses, epitopes recognized by B and T cells that limit viral spread, and its role as a target for diagnostic tests and for vaccine design. Based on the extensive information generated by many research groups, it could be stated that NP constitutes a significant and critical player in the immunology of CCHFV.

Keywords: CCHFV; immunity; nucleocapsid protein; orthonairovirus; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CCHFV virion structure and S segment genome organization. The CCHFV virion contains a tri-segmented, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA (vRNA) genome encapsidated by the nucleoprotein (NP) and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp; L protein). The S segment also codes the non-structural S protein (NSs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evaluation of NP-specific antibody response using CCHF convalescent sera. For this purpose, 28 CCHFV-specific antibody-positive and 23 negative human sera were used, and NP-specific IgG was probed. Of the samples tested, the in-house recombinant NP enzyme immunoassay detected a total of 25 out of 28 CCHFV-specific antibody-positive sera as positive and 21 out of 23 CCHFV-specific antibody-negative samples as negative. These results indicated that NP is a strong inducer of the humoral immune response during natural CCHFV infection [79].
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