The receptor binding domain of MERS-CoV: The dawn of vaccine and treatment development

The newly emerged Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is becoming another SARS-like threat to the world. It has an extremely high death rate (similar to 50%) as there is no vaccine or efficient therapeutics. The identification of the structures of both the MERS-CoV receptor binding domain (RBD) and its complex with dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), raises the hope of alleviating this currently severe situation. In this review, we examined the molecular basis of the RBD-receptor interaction to outline why/how could we use MERS-CoV RBD to develop vaccines and antiviral drugs. Copyright (C) 2013, Elsevier Taiwan LLC & Formosan Medical Association. All rights reserved.