Characterization of secreted and intracellular forms of a truncated hepatitis C virus E2 protein expressed by a recombinant herpes simplex virus
A replication-defective herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) recombinant lacking the glycoprotein H (gH)-encoding gene and expressing a truncated form of the hepatitis C (HCV) E2 glycoprotein (E2-661) was constructed and characterized. We show here that cells infected with the HSV/HCV recombinant virus efficiently express the HCV E2-661 protein. Most importantly, cellular and secreted E2-661 protein were both readily detected by the E2-conformational mAb H53 and despite the high expression levels, only limited amounts of misfolded aggregates were detected in either the cellular or secreted fractions. Furthermore, cell-associated and secreted E2-661 protein bound to the major extracellular loop (MEL) of CD81 in a concentration-dependent manner and both were highly reactive with sera from HCV-infected patients, Finally, BALB/c mice immunized intraperitoneally with the recombinant HSV/HCV virus induced high levels of anti-E2 antibodies. Analysis of the induced immunoglobulin G (IgG) isotypes showed high levels of IgG2a while the levels of the IgG1 isotype were significantly lower, suggesting a Th1-type of response. We conclude that the HSV-1 recombinant virus represents a promising tool for production of non-aggregated, immunologically active forms of the E2-661 protein and might have potential applications in vaccine development.
Back to publications
Publication
Contributors
Lucas M, Tsitoura E, Montoya M, Laliotou B, Aslanoglou E, Kouvatsis V, Entwisle C, Miller J, Klenerman P, Hadziyannis A, Hadziyannis S, Borrow P, Mavromara P
Year
2003
Journal
Journal of General Virology
Volume
84
Pages
545-554
Altmetric details