Characterization of a permissive epitope insertion site in adenovirus hexon

A robust immune response is generated against components of the adenovirus capsid. In particular, a potent and long-lived humoral response is elicited against the hexon protein. This is due to the efficient presentation of adenovirus capsid proteins to CD4+ T cells by antigen-presenting cells, in addition to the highly repetitive structure of the adenovirus capsids, which can efficiently stimulate B-cell proliferation. In the present study, we take advantage of this immune response by inserting epitopes against which an antibody response is desired into the adenovirus hexon. We use a B-cell epitope from Bacillus anthracis protective antigen (PA) as a model antigen to characterize hypervariable region 5 (HVR5) of hexon as a site for peptide insertion. We demonstrate that HVR5 can accommodate a peptide of up to 36 amino acids without adversely affecting virus infectivity, growth, or stability. Viruses containing chimeric hexons elicited antibodies against PA in mice, with total immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers reaching approximately 1 x 10(3) after two injections. The antibody response contained both IgG1 and IgG2a subtypes, suggesting that Th1 and Th2 immunity had been stimulated. Coinjection of wild-type adenovirus and a synthetic peptide from PA produced no detectable antibodies, indicating that incorporation of the epitope into the capsid was crucial for immune stimulation. Together, these results indicate that the adenovirus capsid is an efficient vehicle for presenting B-cell epitopes to the immune system, making this a useful approach for the design of epitope-based vaccines.