Working towards a plant-produced Bovine papillomavirus vaccine: expression of BPV1 virus-like particles and pseudovirions in Nicotiana benthamiana
type: CreativeWork
description: Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) are DNA viruses implicated in several diseases and cancers of considerable veterinary and agricultural importance in cattle, horses, as well as several wild animal species, leading to their economic depreciation through the deterioration of their function and appearance. As BPV is widespread, easily transmissible, and infection often occurs asymptomatically, it is imperative that interventions are carried out to mitigate the threat of outbreaks occurring in livestock. There is a demand for prophylactic vaccines to immunise animals routinely and from a young age so as to prevent infection from occurring, as there is currently no fully effective treatment against established disease. Virus-like particles (VLPs) have in recent years been adopted as safe and efficacious vaccine antigens, and pseudovirions (PsVs) as experimental vaccines and vectors for therapeutic agents. Prophylactic VLP-based candidate vaccines against BPV types 1, 2, and 4 have previously been produced, yet these produce antibodies which are largely type-specific, and are expensive and not widely available in developing countries, where food security and the use of cattle for meat, dairy, leather products, as well as draft animals, is often essential for survival. Plant-based expression systems for the production of biopharmaceuticals, such as vaccines, offer several advantages over traditional protein expression systems, chief of which is a reduction in production costs, improved biosafety features, and a potential for rapid scalability. BPV1 is one of the most virulent BPV types and, as the most prevalent type, is responsible for the majority of BPV-related diseases. To address the lack of a cheap and readily-available vaccine, BPV1 VLPs and PsVs were expressed in N. benthamiana plants as a prelude to producing a candidate prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine. Expression of L1 and L1/L2 VLPs was successful, as was the encapsidation of a reporter gene plasmid into the …
abstract: Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) are DNA viruses implicated in several diseases and cancers of considerable veterinary and agricultural importance in cattle, horses, as well as several wild animal species, leading to their economic depreciation through the deterioration of their function and appearance. As BPV is widespread, easily transmissible, and infection often occurs asymptomatically, it is imperative that interventions are carried out to mitigate the threat of outbreaks occurring in livestock. There is a demand for prophylactic vaccines to immunise animals routinely and from a young age so as to prevent infection from occurring, as there is currently no fully effective treatment against established disease. Virus-like particles (VLPs) have in recent years been adopted as safe and efficacious vaccine antigens, and pseudovirions (PsVs) as experimental vaccines and vectors for therapeutic agents. Prophylactic VLP-based candidate vaccines against BPV types 1, 2, and 4 have previously been produced, yet these produce antibodies which are largely type-specific, and are expensive and not widely available in developing countries, where food security and the use of cattle for meat, dairy, leather products, as well as draft animals, is often essential for survival. Plant-based expression systems for the production of biopharmaceuticals, such as vaccines, offer several advantages over traditional protein expression systems, chief of which is a reduction in production costs, improved biosafety features, and a potential for rapid scalability. BPV1 is one of the most virulent BPV types and, as the most prevalent type, is responsible for the majority of BPV-related diseases. To address the lack of a cheap and readily-available vaccine, BPV1 VLPs and PsVs were expressed in N. benthamiana plants as a prelude to producing a candidate prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine. Expression of L1 and L1/L2 VLPs was successful, as was the encapsidation of a reporter gene plasmid into the …
author: Pietersen, Inge
keywords: Molecular and Cell Biology
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:10Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

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property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37444