BIOCHEMICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL PEPTIDE CARRIER SYSTEM USING ROTAVIRUS VP6 PARTICLES

A system which allows for the efficient attachment of synthetic peptides to spherical virus-like particles assembled from the VP6 rotavirus nucleocapsid protein is described. This attachment was shown to be mediated by peptide-protein interactions and did not require additional chemicals for conjugation. The resulting large macromolecular structure was highly immunogenic for both the VP6 protein and the coupled peptides. The antibody response to peptides bound to VP6 particles was of higher titre and longer duration than that induced by other carriers. In addition, the response to VP6-coupled peptides was not affected by prior exposure to rotavirus and exhibited a range of immunoglobulin subclasses in the absence of an adjuvant. These data demonstrate that assembled VP6 spherical particles are useful carriers for low doses of synthetic peptides.