title: Tandem copies of a human rotavirus VP8 epitope can induce specific neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice.
abstract: The VP8 subunit protein of human rotavirus (HRV) plays an important role in viral infectivity and neutralization. Recombinant peptide antigens displaying the amino acid sequence M(1)ASLIYRQLL(10), a linear neutralization epitope on the VP8 protein, were constructed and examined for their ability to generate anti-peptide antibodies and HRV-neutralizing antibodies in BALB/c mice. Peptide antigen constructs were expressed in E. coli as fusion proteins with thioredoxin and a universal tetanus toxin T-cell epitope (P2), in order to enhance the anti-peptide immune response. The peptide antigen containing three tandem copies of the VP8 epitope induced significantly higher levels of anti-peptide antibody than only a single copy of the epitope, or the peptide co-administered with the carrier protein and T-cell epitope. Furthermore, the peptide antigen containing three copies of the peptide produced significantly higher virus-neutralization titres, higher than VP8, indicating that a peptide antigen displaying repeating copies of the amino acid region 1-10 of VP8 is a more potent inducer of HRV-neutralizing antibodies than VP8 alone, and may be useful for the production of specific neutralizing antibodies for passive immunotherapy of HRV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kovacs-Nolan
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mine
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D017931:DNA Primers; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D017931:DNA Primers; D000939:Epitopes; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C079234:NS35 protein, rotavirus