Human respiratory syncytial virus vaccine antigen produced in plants

Abstract

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the primary cause of respiratory infection in infants worldwide. Currently there is no available vaccine, although studies in animal models have demonstrated protective immunity induced by an epitope of the RSV G-protein representing amino acids 174-187. Two peptides containing amino acids 174-187 of the G-protein of the human RSV A2 strain (NF1-RSV/172-187 and NF2-RSV/170-191) were separately engineered as translational fusions with the alfalfa mosaic virus coat protein and individually expressed in Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun NN plants through virus infection. RSV G-protein peptides were expressed in infected plant tissues at significant levels within 2 wk of inoculation and purified as part of recombinant alfalfa mosaic virions. BALB/c mice immunized intraperitoneally with three doses of the purified recombinant viruses showed high levels of serum antibody specific for RSV G-protein and were protected against infection with RSV Long strain.

Biotechnological leap in biopharmaceuticals: Current status and challenges ahead

“…There was also development of another vaccine which followed the first one by expression of hepatitis B surface antigens in plants [57]. Now there are many different types of proteins which are successfully expressed in plants, such as E. coli heatlabile enterotoxin antigen [58], granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor [59], human serum albumin [60], enkephalins [61] and glucocerebrosidase, surface antigen of Norwalk virus [53], VP1 antigen from foot and mouth disease virus [62,63], B subunit of cholera toxin [54], antigen of rabies virus [51], transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus's S protein [64,65], G and F proteins of respiratory syncytial virus [66], rotaviral VP6 protein [67], rinderpest [68], and the measles [69] from the major surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum (an epitope) [70] and virus hemagglutinin proteins. Some plant based vaccines under clinical trials are given in Table 2.…”

Transgenic Plant Vaccine: A Breakthrough in Immunopharmacotherapeutics

“…Since then, several proteins of different origin have been expressed in plants. These include Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin antigen [11], Enkephalins [12], Human serum albumin [13], Glucocerebrosidase and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor [14], Norwalk virus surface protein [15], VP1 antigen from foot and mouth disease virus [16,17], cholera toxin B subunit [18], Rabies antigen [19], the S protein of transmissible gastroenteritis coronavirus [20,21], Respiratory synctial virus G and F proteins [8,22], the VP6 protein of rotavirus [23], the measles [24] and Rinderpest [25], virus hemagglutinin proteins and an epitope from the major surface antigen of Plasmodium falciparum [26].…”

Use of Plant Viruses for Production of Plant-Derived Vaccines

“…Sequences from the human rhinovirus (HRV) and HIV-1 coat proteins were fused onto the CPMV small coat protein and inoculated into rabbits with a subsequent immunogenic response (Porta et al, 1994). Additional examples of CVP vaccines derived from a variety of plant viruses include epitopes from human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) G-protein (Belanger et al, 2000), human rabies glycoprotein (Yusibov et al, 1997;Modelska et al, 1998). Staphylococcus aureus fibronectin-binding protein (Rennermalm et al, 2001), HIV (McLain et al, 1995Durrani et al, 1998;Marusic et al, 2001) and circumsporozoite protein from the malarial parasite (Turpen et al, 1995) have been fused to various CVP structures and have been shown to elicit specific Downloaded by [The University of Manchester Library] at 02:12 12 October 2014 antibody responses in mice.…”