Baculovirus as an expression and/or delivery vehicle for vaccine antigens

Abstract

The baculovirus/insect cell-expression system has proven to be a valuable tool for rapid expression of abundant recombinant proteins for research purposes and has been increasingly exploited for the production of vaccine candidates for commercial use. Furthermore, baculovirus has been discovered to be capable of efficiently transducing a wide variety of mammalian cells, thus leading to the emergence of baculovirus as a novel vector for in vivo and in vitro gene delivery. By incorporating a mammalian expression cassette into the viral genome and/or genetically modifying the baculovirus envelope for immunogen display, baculovirus has also been exploited recently as a vaccine expression/delivery vehicle. This review will focus primarily on past progress and recent advances with regards to employing baculovirus as an in vitro or in vivo expression/delivery vehicle for vaccine immunogens.

Keywords::

• baculovirus
• baculovirus expression vector system
• immune response
• innate immunity
• insect cell
• mammalian cell
• surface display
• vaccine
• virus-like particle

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Health Research Institutes (NHRI-EX97–9412EI), National Tsing Hua University Booster Program (96N2511E1), National Science Council (NSC 96–2627-B-007–018- to YC Hu and NSC 96–2317-B-033 -001- to TY Wu), VTY Joint Research Program, Tsou’s Foundation (VGHUST96-P6–23), CGMH-NTHU Joint Research Program (96N2425E1 and CMRPG361041) and Agricultural Council (96AS-14.6.1-BQ-B6(4)), Taiwan. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.