Engineering a peptide epitope display system on filamentous bacteriophage

Abstract

The genome of bacteriophage fd has been engineered to allow foreign amino acid sequences to be displayed in the exposed N-terminal segment of the major coat protein in the virus particle: small peptides can be encoded directly; larger peptides are encoded in hybrid virions, in which wild-type coat protein subunits are interspersed with coat proteins displaying the foreign peptides. Biophysical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, indicate that the inclusion of the peptides can be achieved without significant disturbance to the helical parameters that define the protein—protein interactions in the assembled virion and the exposure of the peptides can be verified by analysing the susceptibility to attack by proteolytic enzymes. Peptide sequences from the V3 loop of the surface glycoprotein gp120 of HIV-1 strain MN (HIV-1 MN) displayed in this way are remarkably effective structural mimics of the natural epitope. They are recognised by human HIV antisera and evoke high titres of virus-neutralizing antibodies in mice. Antibody production is stimulated by simultaneous inoculation with T cell epitopes similarly displayed on filamentous bacteriophage. The bacteriophage display system offers a powerful means of studying the immunological recognition of proteins. The specificity of the immune response, the ability to recruit helper T cells, the lack of need for external adjuvants and the structural mimicry of defined peptide epitopes, suggest that it will also be an inexpensive and simple route to the production of effective vaccines.