Biomedical Sciences ETDs
Publication Date
5-1-2010
Abstract
The immunogenicity of an antigen can be increased by displaying it in a highly dense, multivalent context, such as on the surface of a virus or virus-like particle (VLP). However, for many viruses, the ability to display diverse antigens on viral surfaces through the construction of recombinant virus particles is limited because peptide insertions are not compatible with virus or VLP assembly. In this thesis, I examined the ability of VLPs of bacteriophage PP7 to have target peptides inserted into a single-chain dimer of its coat protein and form VLP that display the epitope of interest on the particle surface in an immunogenic manner. We found that bacteriophage PP7 is highly tolerant to defined peptide insertions, and a semi-random sequence library. Peptides were displayed on the surface of the VLPs and the recombinant PP7 VLPs were highly immunogenic. Moreover, a PP7 VLP displaying a neutralizing epitope from human papillomavirus (HPV) protein induced a strong antibody response that could protect animals in a mouse genital HPV infection model.
Keywords
VLPs, bacteriophage, Virus like particles, PP7
Document Type
Thesis
Language
English
Degree Name
Biomedical Sciences
Level of Degree
Masters
Department Name
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program
First Committee Member (Chair)
Ozbun, Michelle
Second Committee Member
Peabody, David
Third Committee Member
Wilson, Bridget
Recommended Citation
Medford, Alex. "The Generation and Immunogenicity of PP7 Virus-Like Particles Displaying Target Antigens." (2010). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/biom_etds/8
Committee signature page
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Title page
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Abstract
