Immunogenicity of a foreign peptide expressed within a capsid protein of an attenuated coxsackievirus

The immunogenicity of soluble peptides can be improved by expression within recombinant microorganisms. The immunogenicity of a peptide expressed with in a capsid protein of an attenuated coxsackievirus B4 was evaluated. The i nsertion site was chosen based on its antigenic structure. A foreign peptid e was inserted into a region of the VP1 capsid protein that was identified as a T helper cell epitope. A recombinant virus containing ten amino acids of ovalbumin sequence was genetically stable and retained the biological an d physical characteristics of the parental virus. The recombinant was able to elicit a T helper cell response against ovalbumin sequences. This study shows, for the first time, that coxsackievirus can be used as an expression vector and that insertion of heterologous peptides into an immunogenic reg ion is a viable strategy for inducing T helper cell responses against forei gn sequences. The implications of this work are that the attenuated coxsack ievirus variant may be useful as a vaccine vector for expressing T helper c ell epitopes that are important in inducing protective immunity. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.