Comparing the antibody responses against recombinant hemagglutinin proteins of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus expressed in insect cells and bacteria.

The hemagglutinin (HA) of influenza A virus plays an essential role in mediating the entry of the virus into host cells. Here, recombinant full-length HA5 protein from a H5N1 isolate (A/chicken/hatay/2004(H5N1)) was expressed and purified from the baculovirus-insect cell system. As expected, full-length HA5 elicits strong neutralizing antibodies, as evaluated in micro-neutralization tests using HA5 pseudotyped lentiviral particles.

The use of hepatitis C virus NS3/4A and secreted alkaline phosphatase to quantitate cell-cell membrane fusion mediated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus S protein and the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.

The membrane fusion process mediated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) S protein and its cellular receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) had been reconstituted using two Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines that constitutively express these recombinant proteins separately. This system was applied to develop a quantitative measurement of cell-cell fusion using hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3/4A protease and a secretion-blocked EGFP-4A/4B-SEAP (EGFP: enhanced green fluorescent protein; 4A/4B: a decapeptide substrate of NS3/4A protease; SEAP: secreted alkaline phosphatase) fusion gene. Both genes were transiently expressed in either of the CHO cell lines, followed by fusion treatment.