title: A launch vector for the production of vaccine antigens in plants.
abstract: Historically, most vaccines have been based on killed or live-attenuated infectious agents. Although very successful at immunizing populations against disease, both approaches raise safety concerns and often have limited production capacity. This has resulted in increased emphasis on the development of subunit vaccines. Several recombinant systems have been considered for subunit vaccine manufacture, including plants, which offer advantages both in cost and in scale of production. We have developed a plant expression system utilizing a 'launch vector', which combines the advantageous features of standard agrobacterial binary plasmids and plant viral vectors, to achieve high-level target antigen expression in plants. As an additional feature, to aid in target expression, stability and purification, we have engineered a thermostable carrier molecule to which antigens are fused. We have applied this launch vector/carrier system to engineer and express target antigens from various pathogens, including, influenza A/Vietnam/04 (H5N1) virus.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, 9 Innovation Way, Newark, DE 19711, USA. vyusibov@fraunhofer-cmb.org
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Musiychuk
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Farrance
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orozovic
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brodelius
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brodelius
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Horsey
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ugulava
authors.forename: Abdel-Moneim
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Shamloul
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mett
authors.forename: Shailaja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rabindran
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Streatfield
authors.forename: Vidadi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yusibov
mesh_terms: D000941:Antigens / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D022223:Vaccines, Subunit