Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Oct;71(10):7207-13.
doi: 10.1128/JVI.71.10.7207-7213.1997.

Expression and self-assembly of empty virus-like particles of hepatitis E virus

T C Li  1 , Y Yamakawa, K Suzuki, M Tatsumi, M A Razak, T Uchida, N Takeda, T Miyamura
Affiliations

Expression and self-assembly of empty virus-like particles of hepatitis E virus

T C Li et al. J Virol. 1997 Oct.

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a pathogenic agent that causes fecally-orally transmitted acute hepatitis. The genome, a single-stranded positive-sense RNA, encodes three forward open reading frames (ORFs), in which an approximately 2-kb structural protein is located in the 3' end. To produce HEV-like particles the structural protein, with its N terminus truncated (amino acid residues 112 to 660 of ORF2), was expressed in insect Tn5 cells by a recombinant baculovirus. In addition to the primary translation product with a molecular mass of 58 kDa, a large amount of a further-processed molecule with a molecular mass of 50 kDa was generated and efficiently released into the culture medium. Electron microscopic observation of the culture medium revealed that the 50-kDa protein self-assembled to form empty virus-like particles (VLPs). The buoyant density of the VLPs in CsCl was 1.285 g/cm3 and their diameter was 23.7 nm, a little smaller than the 27 nm of native HEV particles secreted into the bile or stools of experimentally infected monkeys. The yield of the VLPs was 1 mg per 10(7) cells as a purified form. The particles possess antigenicity similar to that of authentic HEV particles and, consequently, they appear to be a good antigen for the sensitive detection of HEV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies. Furthermore, the VLP may be the most promising candidate yet for an HEV vaccine, owing to its potent immunogenicity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Am J Med. 1980 Jun;68(6):818-24 - PubMed
    1. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Dec;33(12):3308-11 - PubMed
    1. Intervirology. 1983;20(1):23-31 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Sep;84(17):6277-81 - PubMed
    1. Lancet. 1988 Mar 12;1(8585):550-4 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources