TITLE:
Cost effective filamentous phage based immunization nanoparticles displaying a full-length hepatitis B virus surface antigen
AUTHORS:
Bertan Koray Balcioglu, Aylin Ozdemir-Bahadir, Duygu Hinc, Candan Tamerler, Berrin Erdag
KEYWORDS:
Phage Display; Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen; Protein Expression; Phage Immunization; Nano Vector System
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
15,
2014
ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causes
of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. In combating HBV infections,
HBV diagnosis and vaccination are therefore critical. The hepatitis B virus surface
antigen (HBsAg) is a key target molecule in developing vaccines and diagnostic
systems. To date, although HBsAg has been expressed in bacteria, yeasts and
mammalian cells, there are still limitations in the existing ones, which leave
the necessity for searching new HBsAg production methods. In this study, a simple
phage display-based method was developed to produce the purified full-length
HBsAg molecules for further immunization studies. For this purpose, the HBsAg
coding gene was cloned into a pCANTAB5E phagemid vector and expressed on the
surface of M13 filamentous phages. The HBsAg-expressing phage nanosystem was
then used as immunization agent in BALB/cJ mice. The ELISA results for sera
obtained from mice immunized with HBsAg-displaying phage particles revealed an
immune response against HBsAg. These results demonstrate the potential use of a
full-length antigen to be displayed on phages as cost effective adjuvant-free
immunization agents as an alternative to the highly purified and more expensive
antigens conjugated with carrier molecules.