Charnay P, Gervais M, Louise A, Galibert F, Tiollais P
Nature. 1980 Aug 28;286(5776):893-5. doi: 10.1038/286893a0.
Hepatitis B is a widespread viral disease. In the absence of cell cultures capable of propagating the virus (HBV) an efficient vaccine has been prepared from viral envelopes isolated from the plasma of chronic carriers. The major polypeptide of the envelope is one of molecular weight 25,000 which carries the surface antigen (HBsAg). Therefore, the biosynthesis of this polypeptide in Escherichia coli may offer an alternative procedure to produce HbsAg free from human proteins. Recently, the HBV genome has been cloned in E.coli. Determination of its primary structure allowed the localization of the gene (called gene S) coding for HBsAg and the synthesis of the core antigen in E.coli has been reported. We have constructed a derivative of bacteriophage lambda carrying a fusion between the beta-galactosidase gene (lacZ) and the HBsAg coding sequence (lambdalacHBs-1). Infection of E.coli with lambdalacHBs-1 leads to the biosynthesis of a polypeptide of molecular weitht 138,000 carrying antigenic determinants of HBV surface antigen.
乙型肝炎是一种广泛传播的病毒性疾病。由于缺乏能够繁殖该病毒（乙肝病毒，HBV）的细胞培养物，已从慢性携带者血浆中分离出病毒包膜制备了一种有效的疫苗。包膜的主要多肽是分子量为25,000的一种，它携带表面抗原（HBsAg）。因此，在大肠杆菌中合成这种多肽可能提供一种替代方法来生产不含人类蛋白质的HBsAg。最近，乙肝病毒基因组已在大肠杆菌中克隆。确定其一级结构使得能够定位编码HBsAg的基因（称为基因S），并且已经报道了在大肠杆菌中合成核心抗原。我们构建了一种噬菌体λ衍生物，它携带β-半乳糖苷酶基因（lacZ）和HBsAg编码序列之间的融合体（λlacHBs-1）。用λlacHBs-1感染大肠杆菌会导致合成一种分子量为138,000的多肽，该多肽携带乙肝病毒表面抗原的抗原决定簇。
