A baculoviral display system to assay viral entry

In this study, we evaluated a baculoviral display system for analysis of viral entry by using a recombinant adenovirus (Ad) carrying a luciferase gene and budded baculovirus (BV) that displays the adenoviral receptor, coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR). CAR-expressing B16 cells (B16-CAR cells) were infected with luciferase-expressing Ad vector in the presence of BV that expressed or lacked CAR (CAR-BV and mock-BV, respectively). Treatment with mock-BV even at doses as high as 5 µg/mL failed to attenuate the luciferase activity of B16-CAR cells. In contrast, treatment with CAR-BV with doses as low as 0.5 µg/mL significantly decreased the luciferase activity of infected cells, which reached 65% reduction at 5 µg/mL. These findings suggest that a receptor-displaying BV system could be used to evaluate viral infection.