title: Application of the human hepatitis B virus core antigen from transgenic tobacco plants for serological diagnosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to produce HBcAg from plants more cheaply than can be done by other currently available means, and to apply such antigen to immunoassay procedures for pretransfusion testing of donor blood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum cv. SR-1 plants expressing the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen (HBcAg) gene were generated by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The recombinant product, called tHBcAg, can assemble itself into a spherical particle with a diameter of 25 to 30 nm, and can maintain two antigenic determinants of HBcAg, namely HBc/alpha and HBc/beta. Partly purified tHBcAg was used in the hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test, as routinely used by the Japanese Blood Center, to test a panel of 524 blood units taken from HBV-positive donors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the HI test, tHBcAg showed serologic properties comparable to that from Escherichia coli, the standard antigen used in the Japanese Blood Center.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Transgenic plants can produce reagents for serologic testing and perhaps even such medical materials as oral vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Plant Biotechnology Institute, Ibaraki Agricultural Center, Iwama, Japan. stsuda@mxj.meshnet.or.jp
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okada
mesh_terms: D016960:Agrobacterium tumefaciens / Q000235:genetics; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D006385:Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006518:Hepatitis Viruses / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics*; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins