Simple production of hydrophobin-fused domain III of dengue envelope protein and induction of neutralizing antibodies against the homotypic serotype of dengue virus

Abstract

Hydrophobin-fused domain III of dengueenvelope proteins serotypes 1 and 2 were expressed inRachiplusia nu larvae and purified by aqueous twophasesystem. This biotechnological approach ofhydrophobin-fused proteins, which allowed obtaining97.7 lg/larva of fusion protein DomIII serotype 1 and61.4 lg/larva of fusion protein DomIII serotype 2,represents an integrated strategy for simple productionof recombinant antigens. Purified fusion proteinsinduced serotype-specific neutralizing antibodieswithout cross-reaction against other serotypes andarboviruses after mouse immunization. hydrophobinfuseddomain III of dengue envelope protein could bea promising strategy for easy and low-cost productionof components of a tetravalent sub-unit vaccineagainst dengue.