Development of modern immunization agent against bovine papillomavirus type 1 infection based on BPV1 L1 recombinant protein

Alena Vrablikova; Veronika Brezani; Ivan Psikal; Martin Fraiberk; Marek Sebela; Martina Fojtikova; Pavel Kulich; Renata Hezova; Josef Masek

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1116661

Development of modern immunization agent against bovine papillomavirus type 1 infection based on BPV1 L1 recombinant protein

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Mar 28:10:1116661. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1116661. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Alena Vrablikova¹, Veronika Brezani¹, Ivan Psikal^{1

2}, Martin Fraiberk^{2

3}, Marek Sebela⁴, Martina Fojtikova¹, Pavel Kulich¹, Renata Hezova¹, Josef Masek¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czechia.
² Dyntec spol s. r.o., Terezin, Czechia.
³ Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia.
⁴ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czechia.

Abstract

Bovine papillomavirus type 1 L1 protein was produced in a baculovirus expression system and purified as virus-like particles (VLPs) by affinity chromatography using lectins. The morphological integrity of VLPs was confirmed by electron microscopy. Differences between the two detected variants were deciphered by mass spectrometry of peptides (MALDI-TOF). Mice were immunized with purified VLPs in doses of 10, 25, or 50 μg in combination with 1% saponin and 15% alhydrogel per dose as adjuvants. Analysis of the humoral immune response revealed increased levels of specific antibodies detected 3 weeks after the first immunization in all groups of animals. This was further significantly increased by the booster applied 3 weeks after the first dose, with the best immune response in a group of mice immunized by the largest dose of antigen. BPV1 L1 VLPs purified by affinity chromatography using lectins could be used for prophylactic immunization in veterinary medicine.

Keywords: chimeric protein; papillomavirus; recombinant; vaccination; virus-like particles (VLPs).

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the project Recombinant Biotechnology and Immunotherapy Centre CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_025/0007397. We also thank the Czech Ministry of Agriculture project RO0523 for financial support.