Whole plant cells producing viral capsid protein as a poliovirus vaccine candidate

Although the use of the live, attenuated (Sabin) poliovirus vaccines has been instrumental in nearly eradicating the virus from the planet, the rare reversion to virulence of these strains has lead to the World Health Organization to recommend their replacement with inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV). Unfortunately IPV is also not without shortcomings, including high cost, failure to induce intestinal immunity, and the need to keep the vaccine at low temperatures. An experimental poliovirus vaccine produced in plants could overcome these problems. A new vaccine candidate was made by producing the poliovirus capsid protein VP1 in the chloroplast of tobacco plants (nuclear-directed antigen synthesis is often inefficient). VP1 was fused to the cholera toxin B (CTB) subunit which allows good transmucosal delivery of the protein. Leaves were freeze dried, ground to a powder, mixed with saline and fed to mice after subcutaneous inoculation with IPV. The results show that boosting with the plant-derived VP1-CTB protein lead to higher antibody neutralizing titers (against all three poliovirus serotypes) both in the blood and in fecal extracts, compared with mice inoculated with IPV alone. The VP1-CTP protein within lyophilized plant cells was stable for 8 months at ambient temperatures. If immunogenicity is maintained under these conditions, it would eliminate the need for a cold chain to maintain vaccine potency, an important achievement. The authors propose that plant-...
Source: virology blog - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Basic virology Information IPV mucosal immunity OPV oral vaccine plant cell vaccine poliovirus viral viruses Source Type: blogs