戊型肝炎病毒ORF2编码多肽抗原的表达及其特性研究

迄今所发现的唯一的戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）中和表位定位于开放读码框架2（ORF2）编码蛋白的第578和第607氨基酸（aa）之间的区域。将对应此区域的基因片段通过一段柔性的甘氨酸铰链与乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）表面抗原（HBsAg）基因的3′端相连，构建成HBV/HEV融合基因。该融合基因在毕赤酵母细胞内的表达产物物为分子量约29kDa的融合蛋白，具有组装成嵌合病毒样颗粒（VLP）的能力。此嵌合VLP具有与HBsAgVLP相似的特性且保留了天然HBV/HEV双重抗原性。对此嵌合VLP特性的初步研究提示其可能具有HBV/HEV双价重组疫苗的潜在应用前景。

Expression and Characterization of an ORF2 Encoded Antigen of Hepatitis E Virus

The only neutralization epitope of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) identified to date was mapped to a region of the ORF2 encoded protein between amino acids (aa) 578 and 607.The gene fragment corresponding to this region was fused through a synthetic glycine linker to the 3' end of the full length gene of HBsAg.Expression of the gene construct in Pichia pastoris intracellularly resulted in a fusion protein of approximately 29 kDa which was found to possess the ability to assemble into HBV/HEV chimeric VLPs akin to HBsAg particles with dual native antigenicity of both the viruses.The preliminary data suggest that the chimeric VLPs produced in this study may be considered as a potential candidate for the development of a HBV/HEV bivalent recombinant vaccine.