Cortes-Perez NG, Kharrat P, Langella P, Bermúdez-Humarán LG. Heterologous production of human papillomavirus type-16 L1 protein by a lactic acid bacterium.
BMC Res Notes 2009;
2:167. [PMID:
19703307 PMCID:
PMC2742549 DOI:
10.1186/1756-0500-2-167]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2009] [Accepted: 08/24/2009] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
The expression of vaccine antigens in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is a safe and cost-effective alternative to traditional expression systems. In this study, we investigated i) the expression of Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) L1 major capsid protein in the model LAB Lactococcus lactis and ii) the ability of the resulting recombinant strain to produce either capsomer-or virus-like particles (VLPs).
Results and conclusion
HPV-16 L1 gene was cloned into two vectors, pCYT and pSEC, designed for controlled intra- or extracellular heterologous expression in L. lactis, respectively. The capacity of L. lactis harboring either pCYT:L1 or pSEC:L1 plasmid to accumulate L1 in the cytoplasm and supernatant samples was confirmed by Western blot assays. Electron microscopy analysis suggests that, L1 protein produced by recombinant lactococci can self-assemble into structures morphologically similar to VLPs intracellularly. The presence of conformational epitopes on the L. lactis-derived VLPs was confirmed by ELISA using an anti-HPV16 L1 capsid antigen antibody. Our results support the feasibility of using recombinant food-grade LAB, such as L. lactis, for the production of L1-based VLPs and open the possibility for the development of a new safe mucosal vector for HPV-16 prophylactic vaccination.
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