Expression of Recombinant Human Cytomegalovirus Fusion Proteins pp150-pp65 Fragments and its Application

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of prokaryotic expression of fusion proteins pp150-pp65 of human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) for its application as antigen, the fusion protein of pp150-pp65 were expressed in prokaryotic expression system and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography column for preparing the colloidal gold kit. Methods Using DNA from HCMV strain as template, the genes encoding pp150 and pp65 protein fragment were amplified by PCR technique, respectively. After confirmed by DNA sequence analysis, the recombinant plasmid pET28a-pp150-pp65 was transformed into E.Coil.BL21(DE3) and induced to express with IPTG. The expressed fusion protein was characterized by SDS-PAGE and western blot after purified, then we used the purified fusion protein to develop combined detection kit of IgM/IgG antibody against HCMV (colloidal gold method) with Beijing Innovita Bio-tech Co., Ltd for detecting the samples, compared with the imported kits (ELISA). Results The gene of fusion fragment pp150-pp65 was correctly amplified and the recombinant vector was successfully constructed. The purified protein with the molecular weight of 45KD had good antigenicity by western blot. The protein was subjected to assay with an ELI SA capture kit in its specific and sensitive assay based on colloidal gold nanoparticles, testing of 600 serum samples indicated that this kit had a sensitivity of 92.7%;, specificity of 83.1%, crude consistency o f 90.2%, compared to the imported HCMV-IgG kit; the sensitivity of the kit was 88.1%, specificity was 89.2%, coarse consistency was 88.5%, compared to the imported HCMV-IgM kit; Conclusion In this experiment, the HCMV antigen with high purity and specificity (pp150-pp65 recombinant protein) was prepared effectively through genetic engineering technology. Compared to imported reagents, the colloidal gold kit consisting of fusion protein in a capture assay had high sensitivity and specificity. Preliminary clinical use warrants further development and use of this kit. Furthermore, it provides a technological basis for detection of HCMV in different stages of clinical infection.