Immunization of cotton rats with the human respiratory syncytial virus F glycoprotein produced using a baculovirus vector

The F glycoprotein of respiratory syncytial virus in insect cells was produced using a baculovirus expression vector to examine its potential as a subunit vaccine. Two different forms of the F glycoprotein were expressed: the intact F (F) glycoprotein and the truncated (Ft) glycoprotein, in which the COOH-terminal anchor region was deleted. The F glycoprotein remained cell associated, whereas the Ft glycoprotein was secreted into the media of infected cells. In contrast to the processing of the F0 precursor into its F1 and F2 subunits that was observed in mammalian cells, a second cleavage site within the F1 subunit was recognized by the insect cell proteases and resulted in the formation of two F1 subunits. The baculovirus-expressed Ft glycoprotein induced neutralizing antibodies in cotton rats and protected vaccinated animals from challenge with respiratory syncytial virus.