Expression and characterization of hepatitis E virus-like particles and non-virus-like particles from insect cells

The hepatitis E virus (HEV) capsid antigen expressed in insect cell has been proposed as a candidate subunit vaccine for the prevention of hepatitis E. However, the expression and purification of HEV virus-like particles (VLPs) from insect cells have not been explored. We aimed to optimize the procedure to obtain HEV VLPs. In this study, two conformations of the HEV capsid proteins were expressed in insect cells, VLPs and non-VLPs, and they were purified separately. The physicochemical properties and the humoral immune responses induced by the two forms were analyzed and compared. We found that HEV VLPs were more immunogenic in mice than HEV non-VLPs. Therefore, we optimized the conditions that yielded high VLPs expression in insect cell cultures and developed an efficient purification method. The results suggest that the distinction and isolation of VLPs from non-VLPs are essential to generate a more immunogenic vaccine.