Plant-based vaccines against viral hepatitis: A panoptic review

The traditional vaccines against hepatitis have been instrumental in reducing the incidence of some types of viral hepatitis;however,the need for cost-effective,easily distributable,and needle-free vaccine alternatives has led to the exploration of plant-based vaccines.Plant-based techniques offer a promising avenue for producing viral hepatitis vaccines due to their low-cost cultivation,scalability,and the potential for oral administration.This review highlights the successful expression of hepatitis B surface antigens in plants and the subsequent formation of virus-like particles,which have shown immunogenicity in preclinical and clinical trials.The challenges such as achieving sufficient antigen expression levels,ensuring consistent dosing,and navigating regulatory frameworks,are addressed.The review considers the potential of plant-based vaccines to meet the demands of rapid vaccine deployment in response to outbreaks and their role in global immunization strategies,particularly in resource-limited settings.This review underscores the significant strides made in plant molecular farming and the potential of plant-based vaccines to complement existing immunization methods against viral hepatitis.

Construction of Plant Expression Vector for Hand,Foot and Mouth Virus EV71-VP1 Gene and Its Expression in Tomato

EV71-type virus is one of the main pathogens causing the occurrence of hand,foot and mouth disease(HFMD),and VP1 protein,a factor that directly determines the antigenicity of the virus,has been isolated.The tomato was selected as a bioreactor for the production of an edible EV71 vaccine designed for the VP1 capsid protein.Using molecular biology techniques,the fusion gene EV71-VP1 was cut from vector PGEX-4T-2,a vector containing the p2300-EV71 gene with CaMV35S promoter and TL regulatory elements was constructed,and the hypocotyl and cotyledons of tomato were transformed using Agrobacterium(EHA105)-mediated method,screened,elongated and rooted,and finally 20 resistant tomato plants were obtained.Five transgenic positive seedlings were obtained by digestion and PCR assay,among which three plants were detected by RT-PCR to be capable of transcriptional translation at the RNA level.The experimental results aimed to explore new material support for the preparation of transgenic plant oral vaccines against EV71 infection and provide a theoretical basis for accelerating the development of transgenic plant vaccines in the future.

Expression of E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit in transgenic tobacco plants

Objective ： To construct plant transformation vector containing Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit （LT-B） gene and generate LT-B transgenic tobacco plants. Methods： The LT-B coding sequence was amplified from pMMB68 by PCR, subcloned into middle vector pUCmT and binary vector pBI121 to obtain plant expression vector pBI-LTB, in which LT-B expression was controlled under the Cauliflower mosaic virus （CaMV） 35S promoter. The tobacco plants （Nicotiana tobacum L. Cuttivar Xanthi） were transformed by co-cultivating leaf discs method via Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 harboring the plant expression vector. The regenerated transgenic tobacco plants were selected by kanamycin and confirmed by PCR, Southern blot, Western blot and ELISA. Resuits： LT-B gene integrated in the tobacco genomic DNA and were expressed in 9 strains of transgenic tobacco plants. The yield was varied from 3. 36-10. 56 ng/mg total soluble tobacco leaf protein. Conclusion： The plant binary expression vector pBI-LTB was constructed successfully, and transgenic LT-B tobacco plants was generated, and confirmed by Southern blot. The protein LT-B expressed by engineered plants was identified by Western blot analysis and had the expected molecular weight of LT-B pentamer protein. This result is an important step close to developing an edible vaccine and supplying a mucasal immunoajuvant, which will contribute to the preven- tion of mucosaroute evading pathogen.