| Autor: |
Davide Cavazzini, Gloria Spagnoli, Filipe Colaco Mariz, Filippo Reggiani, Stefano Maggi, Valentina Franceschi, Gaetano Donofrio, Martin Müller, Angelo Bolchi, Simone Ottonello |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2022 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Zdroj: |
Frontiers in Immunology, Vol 13 (2022) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
article |
| ISSN: |
1664-3224 |
| DOI: |
10.3389/fimmu.2022.958123 |
| Popis: |
Polycationic resurfaced proteins hold great promise as cell-penetrating bioreagents but their use as carriers for the intracellular delivery of peptide immuno-epitopes has not thus far been explored. Here, we report on the construction and functional characterization of a positively supercharged derivative of Pyrococcus furiosus thioredoxin (PfTrx), a thermally hyperstable protein we have previously validated as a peptide epitope display and immunogenicity enhancing scaffold. Genetic conversion of 13 selected amino acids to lysine residues conferred to PfTrx a net charge of +21 (starting from the -1 charge of the wild-type protein), along with the ability to bind nucleic acids. In its unfused form, +21 PfTrx was readily internalized by HeLa cells and displayed a predominantly cytosolic localization. A different intracellular distribution was observed for a +21 PfTrx-eGFP fusion protein, which although still capable of cell penetration was predominantly localized within endosomes. A mixed cytosolic/endosomal partitioning was observed for a +21 PfTrx derivative harboring three tandemly repeated copies of a previously validated HPV16-L2 (aa 20-38) B-cell epitope grafted to the display site of thioredoxin. Compared to its wild-type counterpart, the positively supercharged antigen induced a faster immune response and displayed an overall superior immunogenicity, including a substantial degree of self-adjuvancy. Altogether, the present data point to +21 PfTrx as a promising novel carrier for intracellular antigen delivery and the construction of potentiated recombinant subunit vaccines. |
| Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
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