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Vaccine delivery system for tuberculosis based on nano-sized hepatitis B virus core protein particles

Authors Dhanasooraj D, Kumar R, Mundayoor S

Received 13 November 2012

Accepted for publication 16 December 2012

Published 25 February 2013 Volume 2013:8(1) Pages 835—843

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S40238

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 3



Dhananjayan Dhanasooraj, R Ajay Kumar, Sathish Mundayoor

Mycobacterium Research Group, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala, India

Abstract: Nano-sized hepatitis B virus core virus-like particles (HBc-VLP) are suitable for uptake by antigen-presenting cells. Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10) is an important vaccine candidate against tuberculosis. The purified antigen shows low immune response without adjuvant and tends to have low protective efficacy. The present study is based on the assumption that expression of these proteins on HBc nanoparticles would provide higher protection when compared to the native antigen alone. The cfp-10 gene was expressed as a fusion on the major immunodominant region of HBc-VLP, and the immune response in Balb/c mice was studied and compared to pure proteins, a mixture of antigens, and fusion protein-VLP, all without using any adjuvant. The humoral, cytokine, and splenocyte cell proliferation responses suggested that the HBc-VLP bearing CFP-10 generated an antigen-specific immune response in a Th1-dependent manner. By virtue of its self-adjuvant nature and ability to form nano-sized particles, HBc-VLPs are an excellent vaccine delivery system for use with subunit protein antigens identified in the course of recent vaccine research.

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, VLP, hepatitis B virus core particle, CFP-10, self-adjuvant, vaccine delivery

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