Conduction of neutralizing antibodies by SA11 Vp4 - specific epitopes

In the present study, with a new foreign epitope - presenting system, FHV - RNA2 carrier system, on the precursor capsid protein of an insect virus, flock house virus (FHV) as a carrier, in recombinant baculovirus system and in pET system three epitopes derived from the amino acid residues surrounding the trypsin cleavage site(s) of SAll Vp4 (epitope A, aa 223 to 242;epitope'B, aa 243 to 262; and epitope C, aa 234 to 251 ) was constructed and expressed. The ability of the three epitopes inducing neutralizing antibodies in animals was studies. The results showed that these three epitopes induced production of seral antibodies and neutralizing anbodies in guinea pigs. These findings suggested that the amino acid sequences surrounding the trypsin cleavage site (s) on SAll Vp4 have great significance in the development of epitope - based recombinant ro-tavirus subunit vaccines.Keywoeds: Rotavirus Vp4, Trypsin cleavage site, Epitopes, Neutralizing antibodies, FHV RNA2 carrier system