Rapid, High-level Production of Hepatitis B Core Antigen in Plant Leaf and Its Immunogenicity in Mice.
From: Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5401, USA. Zhong.Huang@asu.edu
Vaccine
- Publish Date: Mar 2006
- ISSN: 0264-410X
- Volume: 24
- Issue: 14
- Pages: 2506-13
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Huang Zhong, Santi Luca, LePore Kate, et al. Rapid, High-level Production of Hepatitis B Core Antigen in Plant Leaf and Its Immunogenicity in Mice.. Vaccine Mar 2006;24:2506-13
Abstract
Hepatitis B core antigen (HBc or HBcAg) self-assembles into capsid particles and is extremely immunogenic. HBc has been extensively studied for its production in various expression systems and for the use of HBc particles for high-density, immunogenic presentation of foreign epitopes. Here we reported the high-level transient expression of HBc in plant leaf and its immunogenicity in mice. By using a novel plant viral expression system, HBc was produced in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves at levels up to 7.14% of total soluble protein (TSP) or 2.38 milligrams HBc per gram of fresh weight at 7 days post-infection (dpi). Plant-derived HBc (p-HBc) assembled into virus-like particles (VLPs) as revealed by sucrose gradients and electron microscopy. Partially purified p-HBc stimulated strong serum antibody responses in mice as Escherichia coli-derived HBc upon intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection. Furthermore, mice immunized mucosally (orally and intranasally) with p-HBc in the absence of adjuvants also developed HBc-specific serum IgG as well as intestinal IgA. Taken together, our results indicate the potential usefulness of p-HBc-VLP as a carrier for immunogenic presentation and mucosal delivery of foreign epitopes.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Animals, Antibody Formation, Hepatitis B Antibodies, Hepatitis B Core Antigens, Hepatitis B Vaccines, Hepatitis B virus, Mice, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Plant Leaves, Vaccines, Synthetic
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 16417953
This abstract is part of PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed includes more than 17 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles. See Copyright and Disclaimers.
Linked medical terms appearing on this page are added by Healia to help readers find more information and are not part of the original PubMed document.
The data herein was last updated on July 8th, 2008 and may not reflect the most current and accurate data available from NLM.