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Transplastomic expression of a modified human papillomavirus L1 protein leading to the assembly of capsomeres in tobacco: a step towards cost-effective second-generation vaccines

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Abstract

Certain types of human papillomaviruses (HPV) are causatively associated with cervical carcinoma, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Due to limitations in the availability of currently used virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines against HPV to women of developing countries, where most cases of cervical cancer occur, the development of a cost-effective second-generation vaccine is a necessity. Capsomeres have recently been demonstrated to be highly immunogenic and to have a number of advantages as a potential cost-effective alternative to VLP-based HPV vaccines. We have expressed a mutated HPV-16 L1 (L1_2xCysM) gene that retained the ability to assemble L1 protein to capsomeres in tobacco chloroplasts. The recombinant protein yielded up to 1.5% of total soluble protein. The assembly of capsomeres was examined and verified by cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation and sucrose sedimentation analysis. An antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay confirmed the formation of capsomeres by using a conformation-specific monoclonal antibody which recognized the conformational epitopes. Transplastomic tobacco plants exhibited normal growth and morphology, but all such lines showed male sterility in the T0, T1 and T2 generations. Taken together, these results indicate the possibility of producing a low-cost capsomere-based vaccine by plastids.

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Acknowledgments

A part of this work was conducted at Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Germany. The study was partially financed by the GoF foundation. We want to express our gratitude for the support of Stefan Kirchner and Hans-Ulrich Koop at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. Furthermore, we acknowledge the assistance of Elisabeth Geiger during the research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Plant Sciences and Plant Biotechnology (DAPP), University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    M. Tahir Waheed, S. Waqas Hassan, N. Mona Razavi, Elke Lössl, Hans-Peter Kaul & Andreas G. Lössl

  2. Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, F035, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Nadja Thönes & Martin Müller

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  1. M. Tahir Waheed
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  2. Nadja Thönes
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  3. Martin Müller
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Correspondence to Andreas G. Lössl.

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Waheed, M.T., Thönes, N., Müller, M. et al. Transplastomic expression of a modified human papillomavirus L1 protein leading to the assembly of capsomeres in tobacco: a step towards cost-effective second-generation vaccines. Transgenic Res 20, 271–282 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-010-9415-4

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