Establishment of a yeast-based VLP platform for antigen presentation

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Vaccine Development
• Protein Engineering

Background:

• Virus-like particles (VLPs) are valuable for vaccine and drug delivery systems.
• Challenges include cost-effective production and stable incorporation of large foreign antigens into VLP scaffolds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a versatile and cost-effective platform for chimeric VLP development.
• To utilize the duck hepatitis B virus small surface protein (dS) as a VLP scaffold.
• To express large foreign viral antigens in yeast for VLP incorporation.

Main Methods:

• Genetic fusion of eight large viral antigens (up to 412 amino acids) to the dS protein.
• Heterologous expression in the yeast *Hansenula polymorpha*.
• Purification of chimeric VLPs using established methods.

Main Results:

• Successful expression of dS-fusion proteins and generation of chimeric VLPs.
• Chimeric VLPs achieved up to 95% purity, containing 33% fusion protein.
• Yields of approximately 40 mg of chimeric VLP per 100 g dry cell weight were obtained.
• Demonstrated stability of purified VLPs for 6 months at 4°C.

Conclusions:

• The dS-based VLP scaffold effectively incorporates diverse, large foreign protein sequences.
• The platform is suitable for displaying immunogenic antigens from various pathogens.
• Yeast-based production offers a cost-effective alternative for VLP development, applicable beyond small-scale research.