Modulation of the immunogenicity of virus-like particles composed of mutant hepatitis B virus envelope subunits

Abstract

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are non-infectious subviral protein complexes, which possess structural features identical or closely related to infectious virions. They are utilized as delivery tools for immunologically relevant antigenic sequences. In order to investigate whether mutant subunits can modulate the VLP immunogenicity, comparative immunization studies with wild-type and non-native VLPs were performed. To determine whether disulfide bonding impacts on the immunogenicity of hepatitis B virus envelope proteins (HBsAg), mutant HBsAg subunits with single, double and triple cysteine residue substitutions were generated. The mutant proteins were expressed in cell culture, secretion compe..