Patent Application
20200040041
The use of virus-like particles (“VLPs”) made from virus capsid-derived proteins and their use to deliver or expose antigens has been disclosed in the art.
For instance, VLPs have been made from animal viruses such as retroviruses or AAVs. Such VLPs, however, require complex structures and are not always convenient to produce.
VLPs derived from plant viruses have also been described. For instance, Sainsbury et al. (Annual Review of Phytopathology 2010 48:437-455) reports the production of VLPs from Cowpea Mosaic virus. Such constructs, however, require co-expression and assembly of two distinct subunits (L and S) or expression of a precursor polypeptide and a protease, rendering resulting VLPs difficult to correctly fold and produce.
Denis et al. (Virology 363 (2007) 59-68) have used the capsid protein of Papaya mosaic virus to expose short HCV viral epitopes. Similarly, Natilla and Hammond (Journal of Virological Methods 178 (2011) 209-215) have prepared VLPs from a capsid protein of a Maize Rayado Fino virus conjugated to a short (8 amino acids) peptide. Other examples were reported with Tomato Bushy stunt virus (Kumar et al. 2009, Virology 388, 185-190), Potato virus Y (Kalnciema et al 2012 Molecular Biotechnology 52 2,129) or Artichoke mottled crinckle virus (Arcangeli et al Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics Volume 32, Issue 4, 2014).
In each of these constructs, however, the resulting VLPs allowed coupling of generally only small molecules, and/or required assembly of distinct sub-units, and/or allowed only exposure of a peptide to the exterior of the VLP and/or generated large filamentous rather than icosahedral VLP structures comprising or not nucleic acids.
The present invention provides novel fusion molecules and VLPs derived from nepoviruses, having improved and unexpected properties.
The present invention relates to fusion molecules and VLPs derived from nepoviruses coat proteins and the uses thereof. The present invention shows that the coat protein of nepoviruses may be used to produce stable VLPs. The invention further shows that nepovirus coat protein is a very versatile protein which allows the fusion of large foreign compounds to the N- and/or C-terminal thereof without losing its ability to form VLPs. In addition, the present invention shows that the fusion of a compound at the C-terminus of the coat protein results in the exposure of the compound on the surface of VLPs, whereas a compound fused to the N-terminal leads to its internalization into the VLPs, making the compound inaccessible to antibodies (“caging”). It is therefore possible to produce VLPs having two distinct properties: the surface exposure and/or the protection by internalization (caging) of compounds of interest. Moreover, the VLPs are produced with a single type of coat protein, are quite small in size and simple in structure and nucleic acid-free. Also and advantageously, the coat proteins of nepoviruses may be fused to very large proteins (above 200 amino acids) without losing their ability to assemble into VLPs. To our knowledge, no viral protein has been described in the art having all of these properties simultaneously.
An object of the invention thus resides in virus-like particles comprising or consisting of nepovirus coat proteins.
A further object of the invention is a virus-like particle comprising or consisting of nepovirus coat proteins conjugated to a compound. Conjugation may be covalent (e.g., through genetic fusion or chemical coupling) and/or non-covalent (e.g., through ligand mediated binding).
Another object of the invention resides in a molecule comprising or consisting of a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound.
Another object of the invention resides in a pharmaceutical composition comprising one or more conjugated nepovirus coat proteins or one or more virus-like particles as defined above.
The invention also relates to the use of nepovirus coat proteins to make virus-like particles.
The present invention also provides a method of producing a molecule as defined above, comprising providing a nepovirus coat protein and conjugating said protein to a compound. In a particular embodiment, the method comprises providing a nucleic acid construct encoding said conjugated molecule and expressing said nucleic acid in a host cell or an in vitro expression system.
The invention also provides a method of producing virus-like particles comprising providing a nepovirus coat protein and allowing said protein to assemble into virus-like particles. In a particular embodiment, the method comprises providing a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound of interest and using such conjugated protein (possibly in mixture with other coat proteins) to make the virus-like particle. Alternatively, or in addition, the method further comprises a step of adding a reactive or active group to the virus-like particle or of incorporating a reactive or active group in the virus-like particle during production or assembly.
The invention also concerns the use of a nepovirus coat protein to deliver a compound to a subject.
Further objects of the invention include a nucleic acid molecule encoding a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound of interest, a vector comprising such a nucleic acid, as well as a host cell containing the same.
The invention has wide utility in the pharmaceutical industry, to produce e.g., vaccines, adjuvants, drugs or imaging agents, for instance, for human or veterinary applications, as well as for research uses.
The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
The present invention relates to fusion molecules and VLPs derived from nepoviruses coat proteins, and the uses thereof. The invention particularly provides nepovirus coat proteins conjugated to compounds, and their use to produce nucleic-acid-free virus-like particles that either expose and/or encage said compounds. The invention shows that it is possible to produce particles by assembly of a single nepovirus coat protein in such a way that (i) encapsidation of native viral RNA is avoided, (ii) a first compound (e.g., a foreign protein or peptide) is surface exposed and/or (iii) a second compound (e.g., a foreign protein or peptide), which can be the same or different from the first compound, is encaged/protected inside the particle. These conjugated proteins and VLPs may be used to expose and/or encage any compound of interest and have utility in various fields such as the pharmaceutical, agro, or veterinary areas.
An object of the invention thus resides in virus-like particles comprising, or consisting of, or obtainable from nepovirus coat proteins.
A further object of the invention is a virus-like particle comprising or obtainable from nepovirus coat proteins conjugated to a compound. Conjugation may be covalent (e.g., through genetic or chemical coupling) and/or non-covalent (e.g., through ligand mediated binding).
Another object of the invention resides in a molecule comprising or consisting of a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound.
A further object of the invention is a virus-like particle obtainable by assembly of nepovirus coat proteins conjugated to a compound.
The term “virus-like-particle” or “VLP” more specifically designates a particle which is essentially made by assembly of coat proteins. VLPs are typically devoid of nucleic acids and not infectious. Preferred unmodified VLPs of the invention are icosahedral. Also, in unmodified form, they usually are small particles having a diameter below 50 nm, typically between 20-40 nm, more preferably between 25-35 nm, such as about 30 nm. The invention indeed shows that nepovirus coat proteins of the invention lead to the production of particles that are small in size and simple in structure. Such characteristics represent a further advantage of the invention. Of course, the size of the VLPs may be modified when large compounds are conjugated to the coat protein, as disclosed in the present application. In one embodiment, VLPs of the invention are essentially composed of or obtained from several copies of a same nepovirus coat protein (homoVLPs), preferably a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound.
In another embodiment, VLPs of the invention are composed of, or comprise, or are obtained from a mixture of distinct nepovirus coat proteins (heteroVLPs). Examples of such heteroVLPs include (i) VLPs comprising a mixture of a nepovirus coat protein and fragments thereof, or (ii) VLPs comprising a mixture of a conjugated nepovirus coat protein and a non-conjugated nepovirus coat protein.
In a further embodiment, VLPs of the invention are composed of, or comprise, or are obtained from a mixture of a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a first compound and a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a second compound (hybridVLPs). In a preferred hybridVLP, a mixture of the same nepovirus coat protein is used fused to a first and second compound, respectively. A most preferred hybridVLP comprises or is obtained from a mixture of a nepovirus coat protein conjugated in C-ter to a first compound and a nepovirus coat protein conjugated in N-ter to a second compound. A second most preferred hybridVLP comprises the nepovirus coat protein and an exposed compound which is conjugated to the surface of the particle by ligand-mediated conjugation. A third most preferred hybridVLP comprises an enraged compound which is N-terminally conjugated to the nepovirus coat protein and an exposed compound which is conjugated to the surface of the particle by ligand-mediated conjugation.
In heteroVLPs or hybridVLPs, the ratio between the various coat proteins may be varied and adjusted by the skilled artisan according to the needs and operating conditions, without affecting the assembly of the VLP.
VLPs of the invention may be prepared using any nepovirus coat protein. In this regard, the term “nepovirus coat protein” designates any coat or capsid protein or polypeptide derived from a nepovirus, e.g., obtained from a nepovirus, or having the sequence of a coat protein of a nepovirus, or having a sequence designed from a sequence of a coat protein of a nepovirus. The term coat protein includes recombinant proteins, synthetic proteins, or purified proteins. The coat protein may be a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence identical to that of a nepovirus or may contain structural modifications such as mutations, deletions and/insertions of one or several amino acid residues, as long as the protein retains the ability to assemble into a particle.
The invention may be implemented with coat proteins derived from any nepovirus. In particular, the invention may use coat proteins derived from a nepovirus selected from GFLV, ArMV, CNSV, BRSV, GBLV, BRV, TRSV, CLRV, RpRSV or any other nepovirus as defined by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV, see Worldwide Website: ictvonline.org/virustaxonomy.asp). The amino acid sequences of coat proteins derived from distinct nepoviruses are provided as SEQ ID NO: 1-8.
In a particular embodiment, the nepovirus coat protein is a polypeptide comprising all or part of any one of SEQ ID NOs: 1 to 8 and able to assemble into a VLP. “Part” of a sequence designates preferably a continuous portion of at least 80% of that sequence, more preferably of at least 85%, even more preferably at least 90%, 95%, or more.
In a preferred embodiment, the nepovirus coat protein for use in the invention is a coat protein derived from a GFLV. Several strains of GFLV have been described in the art and are available, such as GFLV-F13 (Viry et al. 1993), or GFLV-GHu (Vigne et al., 2004). As a particular example, the invention uses a nepovirus coat protein derived from any strain of GFLV such as F13.
In a most preferred embodiment, the nepovirus coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 1. The term “identity” in relation to an amino acid sequence as used herein refers to the degree of correspondence between two amino-acid sequences (no gaps between the sequences). In other terms, it is the extent, expressed as a percentage, to which two amino acid sequences have the same amino acid at equivalent positions. The % identity can be determined by known computer programs such as BLAST, FASTA, etc.
A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1.
Another particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of amino acids 2-505 of SEQ ID NO: 1.
Another particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of amino acids 1-504 or 2-504 of SEQ ID NO: 1.
Another particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of amino acids 1-503 or 2-503 of SEQ ID NO: 1.
Another example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1 with 1-5 amino acid substitutions.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 2. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 2, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 3. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 3, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 4. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 4, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 5. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 5, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 6. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 6, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 7, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 7. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 7, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
A further particular example of a coat protein for use in the invention is a polypeptide comprising all or part of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 8, or a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 8. A particular example of a coat protein is a protein comprising or consisting of SEQ ID NO: 8, with or without the N-ter methionine residue.
The proteins may be prepared by recombinant technology (i.e., expression in a cell or in vitro system), by synthesis, purification, or combinations thereof. In this regard, the proteins may be produced by expression in plant cells, in planta, in bacteria (e.g., in E. coli), or in other eukaryotic cells. Alternatively, expression may be performed in in vitro systems. Also, the proteins may be modified to improve their stability. In particular, the coat proteins may contain one or more peptidomimetic bonds such as for instance intercalation of a methylene (—CH2—) or phosphate (—PO2—) group, secondary amine (—NH—) or oxygen (—O—), alpha-azapeptides, alpha-alkylpeptides, N-alkylpeptides, phosphonamidates, depsipeptides, hydroxymethylenes, hydroxyethylenes, dihydroxyethylenes, hydroxyethylamines, retro-inverso peptides, esters, phosphinates, phosphinics, phosphonamides and the like.
Nepovirus coat proteins may be used as such to produce VLPs of the invention. Also, as discussed previously, the invention shows that nepovirus coat proteins may be conjugated to large compounds without losing their ability to assemble into VLPs. Moreover, the conjugation strategy allows control of exposure/encaging of the compound. Furthermore, very large compounds can be conjugated (e.g., which can represent at least 50% of the size of the coat protein itself) without affecting the ability of the protein to assemble into VLPs. An object of the invention thus also resides in a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound.
Conjugation may be covalent or not, direct or not (i.e., via a linker), and/or chemical, enzymatic or genetic. Furthermore, conjugation may involve terminal and/or lateral coupling. Also, a conjugated coat protein of the invention may comprise one or several conjugated compounds.
Conjugation can be carried out by any acceptable means of bonding taking into account the chemical nature and obstruction of the coat protein and compound. In this regards, coupling can thus be performed by one or more covalent, ionic, hydrogen, hydrophobic or Van der Waals bonds, cleavable or non-cleavable in physiological medium or within cells.
Furthermore, while coupling can be performed at any reactive groups of the coat protein, accessibility of the reactive group in a subsequent VLP should be considered. In this regard, the inventors have found that coupling at the N-term and/or C-term ends of the coat protein does not affect the ability of the coat protein to form a particle. Such terminal coupling is thus most preferred for the present invention. In addition, the inventors have surprisingly found that the fusion of a compound at the C-terminus of a nepovirus coat protein results in the exposure of the compound on the surface of particles prepared with the conjugate, whereas a compound fused to the N-terminal leads to its internalization into the VLPs, making the compound inaccessible to antibodies (“caging”). It is therefore possible to adjust the coupling strategy to the type of compound, and also to produce VLPs having two distinct properties: the surface exposure and the protection by internalization (caging) of compounds of interest.
In a first preferred embodiment, conjugation is obtained by covalent coupling to the coat protein, typically by genetic fusion (i.e., by expression in a suitable system of a nucleic acid construct encoding the nepovirus coat protein and the compound as a genetic fusion), most preferably at the N-ter and/or C-ter of the coat protein.
In a particular embodiment, the invention relates to a nepovirus coat protein conjugated at its N-terminal end to a compound (MCP). A typical structure of such conjugates is Compound-(Linker)n-Coat with n=0 or 1. Conjugation at the N-ter end more preferably comprises conjugation at the first N-ter amino acid of the coat protein. The present invention does indeed show that conjugation at amino acid Met1 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or at amino acid Gly1 of a coat protein comprising amino acids 2-505 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a variant thereof can generate molecules that can form VLPs and that encage the conjugated compound inside of the VLP.
In another particular embodiment, the invention relates to a nepovirus coat protein conjugated at its C-terminal end to a compound (CPTR). A typical structure of such conjugates is Coat-(Linker)n-Compound with n=0 or 1. Conjugation at the C-ter end more preferably comprises conjugation at any one of the last three C-ter amino acids of the protein. The present invention does indeed show that conjugation at amino acid. Phe503, Pro504 or Val505 of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a variant thereof can generate molecules that can form VLPs and that expose the conjugated compound outside of the VLP. More preferably, C-ter conjugation involves conjugation to the last C-ter amino acid residue of the coat protein.
The compound may be coupled directly to the coat protein, or indirectly by means of a linker. Means of covalent chemical coupling, include e.g., the use of bi- or multifunctional agents containing e.g., alkyl, aryl, peptide or carboxyl groups. Examples of linkers include any neutral amino acid or peptide sequence, such as for instance G3S, G3SG3, or DPAFLYKVVRSFGPA (SEQ ID NO: 13).
In a preferred embodiment, the compound is covalently linked to the coat protein, directly or via a linker.
In a further preferred embodiment, the compound and coat protein are linked by a peptide bond, either directly or via a linker.
In an alternative preferred embodiment, conjugation is obtained by (typically non-covalent) ligand-mediated attachment to the particles. Such mode of conjugation allows efficient exposure of compounds on the surface of the particles. Such mode may also be combined with the genetic coupling, to produce hybridVLPs.
In such an embodiment, a compound is conjugated to the particles after particle assembly, by adding to the VLP a reactive or active group. The active group can be linked to a ligand, and the ligand is allowed to bind the particles, leading to attachment.
The ligand may be any molecule that binds the coat protein by affinity. Examples of suitable ligands include, for instance, anti-coat protein antibodies, or derivatives thereof retaining antigen specificity. Examples of such antibodies include, without limitation, monoclonal antibodies, nanobodies (e.g., derived from the structure of single chain only immunoglobulins found in camelids), single chain antibodies (i.e., ScFv or VNAR fragments), diabodies, etc.
The term nanobody (or VHH, Hamers-Casterman et al., 1993) designates a single chain polypeptide consisting essentially of three CDRs (complementarity-determining regions CDR1, CDR2 and CDR3) separated by four FR domains (for Framework regions) and essentially devoid of a light chain or a constant domain. The terms “nanobodies”, “nanobody”, “VHH”, “VHH antibody fragment” or “single-domain antibody” are used interchangeably. Nanobodies typically have the following structure: FR1-CDR1-FR2-CDR2-FR3-CDR3-FR4. Preferably, the nanobodies of the invention are synthetic molecules produced by recombinant or chemical technologies. Nanobodies present high epitope specificity and affinity. They are about ten times smaller than conventional IgG molecules. They are single-chain polypeptides, very stable, resisting extreme pH and temperature conditions. Moreover, they can resist to the action of proteases.
Specific examples of nanobodies that can be used in the present invention are nanobodies Nb126, Nb101, Nb23, Nbp75 and Nbp71, which have been described in WO2015/110601.
The amino acid sequence of these nanobodies is described as SEQ ID NOs: 14-18, respectively.
In a specific embodiment, the nanobody used in the invention comprises a sequence selected from any one of SEQ ID NOs: 14-18 or a sequence having at least 80% sequence identity thereto, preferably at least 90%, 92%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more amino-acid sequence identity thereto.
Further nanobodies suitable for use in the invention are nanobodies which bind the same antigen or antigenic domain or epitope as a nanobody of any one of SEQ ID NO: 14 to 18.
Other nanobodies or antibodies can be produced that bind a nepovirus and/or the cognate coat protein. Antibodies may be prepared by conventional techniques, by immunization of a mammal with the cognate virus or coat protein or an epitope-containing fragment thereof, followed by collection of antibody producing cells. The cells may be used to select clonal antibodies and to generate hybridomas by fusion. The sequence of the antibodies may then be determined and used to produce recombinant antibodies, single chain antibodies, Mabs, CDRs, and the like. Anti-coat protein nanobodies can be generated e.g. by immunization of a camelid animal with the cognate virus or coat protein or an epitope-containing fragment or with purified VLPs. The DNA molecule encoding said nanobodies can be determined or isolated or cloned by methods well-known in the art. Nanobodies having specific sequences as defined above can be produced by artificial synthesis or recombinant DNA technology. Nanobodies may then be tested for their ability to bind the VLP as described in the examples and/or to compete or not with (or displace) Nb126, Nb101, Nb23, Nbp75 or Nbp71.
Another example of ligands for use in the invention are single-domain antibodies VNAR fragments derived from heavy-chain antibodies (IgNAR, ‘immunoglobulin new antigen receptor’) of cartilaginous fishes.
The compound may be linked to the ligand through known techniques such as genetic fusion, chemical coupling, affinity binding via affinity tags (such as Strep tag or PolyHis Tag), for instance, that cause covalent or non-covalent coupling. A preferred way is by genetic fusion or chemical coupling, most preferably by genetic fusion when the compound is a polypeptide. In a particular embodiment, the compound is coupled to the ligand at an end of the ligand, most preferably covalently, such as by genetic fusion or chemical coupling. Such coupling does not substantially affect or prevent binding of the ligand to the virus coat protein or particle.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention thus relates to virus-like particles comprising or obtainable from nepovirus coat proteins, wherein said particles comprise at least one compound of interest conjugated to the coat protein by ligand-mediated attachment. Such compound is exposed at the surface of the particles. The particle may have several distinct compounds exposed on its surface through conjugation with the same or a distinct ligand. In a preferred embodiment, conjugation is performed using an anti-coat protein antibody or a derivative thereof, coupled to the compound, even more preferably using a nanobody.
In another preferred embodiment, the invention relates to virus-like particles comprising or obtainable from nepovirus coat proteins, wherein said particles comprise an encaged compound conjugated to the N-ter of the coat protein, and an exposed compound, conjugated to the surface of the particle by ligand-mediated attachment, more preferably by antibody-mediated attachment, even more preferably by nanobody-mediated attachment.
According to a further alternative embodiment, chemical conjugation to VLPs can be contemplated, such as conjugation through an exposed sulfhydryl group (Cys), attachment of an affinity tag (i.e. 6 Histidine, Flag Tag, Strep Tag, SpyCatcher etc.) to the particles for subsequent binding of compounds, or incorporation of unnatural amino acids into the VLP and compound for click chemistry conjugation.
The invention also relates to a method of producing a conjugated molecule as defined above, comprising providing a nepovirus coat protein and conjugating said protein to a compound. In a particular embodiment, providing the nepovirus coat protein comprises expressing a nucleic acid construct encoding said protein in a host cell or an in vitro expression system, and collecting the expressed protein. Subsequently, the protein may be conjugated to a compound. In an alternative route, the conjugated protein is expressed directly using a recombinant fusion nucleic acid. In this regard, in a particular embodiment, the invention relates to a method of producing a conjugated molecule as defined above comprising providing a nucleic acid construct encoding said molecule and expressing said nucleic acid in a host cell or an in vitro expression system. Recombinant production may be performed in any suitable host such as plant cells, in planta, in bacteria, yeasts, insects or in an in vitro transcription system. The expressed conjugate may be collected and stored as free molecules in any suitable medium or state. It may also be allowed to assemble into VLPs, which can then be collected and stored under suitable conditions.
Further objects of the invention also reside in a nucleic acid molecule (e.g., DNA, RNA) encoding a molecule as defined above; a vector comprising such a nucleic acid; and a host cell containing such a nucleic acid or vector.
The invention also provides a method of producing virus-like particles. The method generally comprises (i) providing a nepovirus coat protein and (ii) forming VLPs with said protein, for instance by allowing said protein to assemble into virus-like particles. In a typical embodiment, the coat proteins are maintained under conditions allowing self-assembly into particles. Such conditions include in solution at a pH comprised typically between 5 and 9, more typically between 6 and 8, and at a temperature comprised between 4° C. and 50° C., more preferably around room temperature.
In a particular embodiment, the method comprises (i) providing a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a compound of interest and (ii) using such conjugated protein (possibly in mixture with other coat proteins) to make virus-like particles.
The nepovirus coat protein may be provided by artificial synthesis, enzymatic production/assembly, purification, and/or recombinant technology. In this respect, in a preferred embodiment, the method comprises:
providing a nucleic acid construct encoding a nepovirus coat protein, preferably conjugated to a compound,
expressing said nucleic acid in a host cell or an in vitro expression system,
optionally purifying the protein,
forming VLPs from the expressed and optionally purified proteins, and
collecting or purifying the VLPs.
In a particular embodiment, the method comprises a further step of adding to the VLPs a reactive or active group, to confer on the VLP a selected property. The active group can be linked to a ligand, and the ligand is allowed to bind the particles, leading to attachment.
In another particular embodiment, the step of forming the VLP is performed in the presence of a reactive or active group, allowing said group to be incorporated into the VLP.
In a further particular embodiment, the invention relates to a method of producing a VLP, comprising:
providing a nucleic acid construct encoding a nepovirus coat protein conjugated to a tag,
expressing said nucleic acid in a host cell or an in vitro expression system,
optionally purifying the protein,
forming VLPs from the expressed and optionally purified protein,
optionally collecting or purifying the VLPs, and
adding to the VLP a compound that binds the tag.
In the above methods, recombinant production may be performed in any suitable host such as plant cells, in planta, in bacteria, yeasts, or in an in vitro transcription system.
The VLPs may be collected and purified by conventional techniques such as, for instance, chromatography, centrifugation, and the like. Because VLPs are stable under physiological conditions, they may be stored in solution or frozen or lyophilized, according to conventional techniques.
The compound for use in a conjugate or VLP of the invention may be any compound of interest, such as a therapeutic, diagnostic or imaging agent. The compound may also be a tag, allowing subsequent attachment of any agent of interest by exposing the conjugated coat protein or VLP to said agent under suitable conditions.
In a particular embodiment, the compound is a chemical entity of biological interest such as a small chemical molecule (e.g., antibiotic, antiviral, immunomodulator, antineoplastic, etc.), a peptide or polypeptide (such as a cytokine, a hormone, a toxin, an antigen), a protein (such as an enzyme, an antibody (such as a nanobody) or a part of an antibody), a nucleic acid (e.g., a siRNA or miRNA), or a marker (such as a fluorescent or luminescent agent).
In a particular embodiment, the compound is a protein, polypeptide or peptide. With such type of compound, the conjugates of the invention can be produced by genetic fusion.
Particular examples of such compounds include, for instance antibodies or nanobodies, or fragments or derivatives thereof. In this regard, the invention surprisingly shows that coat proteins of nepoviruses may be fused to very large proteins (above 200 amino acids) without losing their ability to assemble into VLPs. The conjugates of the invention may thus be used to expose or encage very large proteins.
Other examples of such compounds include, for instance peptide or protein antigens. Such compounds are typically conjugated in C-terminal, so as to allow their exposure at the surface of a resulting particle. In this manner, the conjugate or resulting VIP can be used as a vaccine or immunogenic composition, to induce or stimulate an immune response against the antigen.
Specific examples of conjugation in C-terminal is non-covalent (ligand-mediated) conjugation, preferably a conjugation with at least one nanobody.
Another example of such compounds include peptides or proteins with affinity to metal or tracer molecules such as gadolinium, silver, gold etc.
Another example of such compounds include toxins, enzymes or toxic molecules which should preferably not be exposed in the organism before they have reached their target tissue. Examples of such toxic compounds include, for instance, caspases, the cytosine deaminase and uracil phospho-ribosyltransferase Fcy and Fur, ribosome inactivating proteins, and bacterial and plant toxins, which act by inhibiting protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells. The toxins of the Shiga and ricin family inactivate 60S ribosomal subunits by an N-glycosidic cleavage, which releases a specific adenine base from the sugar-phosphate backbone of 28S rRNA. Members of the family include shiga and shiga-like toxins, and type I (e.g. trichosanthin and luffin) and type II (e.g. ricin, agglutinin and abrin) ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs). All these toxins are structurally related. RIPs have been of considerable interest because of their potential use, conjugated with monoclonal antibodies, as immunotoxins to treat cancers. Further, trichosanthin has been shown to have potent activity against HIV-1-infected T cells and macrophages.
Another example of such compounds includes cell targeting ligands. Such compounds allows specific or targeted binding to cell receptors or structures, thus allowing targeting of the conjugate or VLP to a preferred target cell or tissue. Examples of such targeting ligands include ligands of cell surface receptors, or receptors of cell surface proteins, or antibodies (such as nanobodies) or fragments thereof.
Another example of such compounds includes cell-penetrating peptides and transduction domains. Such compounds allows internalization of conjugate or VLP in the cell. Examples of such peptides include tat peptide of HIV-1.
In a particular embodiment, a conjugate of the invention comprises a nepovirus coat protein conjugated at the C-term end to a targeting ligand and conjugated at the N-term end to a toxic compound. Such conjugate allows formation of a VLP having the targeting ligand exposed at the surface and the toxic compound encaged.
The invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one VLP as defined above and, preferably, one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients.
The invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one conjugated nepovirus coat protein as defined above and, preferably, one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients.
Depending on the presence or absence, and on the nature of a compound or active group bound to the coat protein, the compositions of the invention may have various utilities such as therapeutic compositions, vaccines, adjuvants, diagnostic compositions, immunogenic compositions, research samples, etc.
The compositions of the invention advantageously comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable vector or excipient. The pharmaceutically acceptable excipient can be selected from any suitable and conventional excipient, depending on the form of the composition. In particular, for solid compositions such as tablets, pills, powders, or granules, the composition may comprise e.g., lactose, dextrose, sucrose, mannitol, or sorbitol. A lubricant, such as talc or stearic acid, a binder, such as starch or gelatin, a disintegrant such as agar, and/or a sweetener may be further added to the composition as well. For semi-solid compositions, the excipient can, for example, be an emulsion or oily suspension. Liquid compositions, in particular injectables or those included in a soft capsule, can include a diluent or solvent such as, for example, water, physiological saline solution, aqueous dextrose, an alcohol, an oil and analogues thereof.
The compositions or conjugates of the invention can be administered by any suitable route such as, without limitation, by parenteral (e.g., subcutaneous, intravenous or intramuscular route), oral, rectal, ocular or intranasal routes. The pharmaceutical compositions typically comprise an effective dose of a VP or conjugate or compound, e.g., any dose that gives a therapeutic effect for a given condition and administration schedule.
Depending on the nature of the compound conjugated to the coat protein, the VLPs and compositions of the invention can be used for treating, preventing, diagnosing or imaging various pathologies.
In this respect, the invention relates to VLPs or conjugates as defined above for use as a medicament.
The invention relates to VLPs or conjugates as defined above for use as a vaccine.
The invention relates to VLPs as defined above for use as an adjuvant or immunomodulator. Indeed, VLPs of the invention prepared e.g., from non-conjugated nepovirus coat proteins may be used as suitable adjuvants or immunomodulatory compositions to stimulate an immune response in a mammal.
The invention relates to VLPs or conjugates as defined above for use as a diagnostic agent.
The invention relates to VLPs or conjugates as defined above for use as a tracer.
The present invention also relates to the use of a nepovirus coat protein to reduce exposure of a compound in vivo.
The present invention also relates to the use of a nepovirus coat protein to improve exposure of a compound in vivo.
Further aspects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in the following experimental section, which shall be considered as illustrative.
Coding sequences for GFLV-CPF13, TagRFP and EGFP were amplified by PCR using Phusion high fidelity DNA polymerase according to the manufacturer's instructions (New England Biolabs, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts) using pVec2ABC (Viry et al., 1993; Schellenberger et al., 2010; Vigne et al., 2013), pTagRFP-C (Evrogen, Russia) and pEGFP-N1 (Clontech, California) as templates, respectively. The translational fusions TRCP and CPTR, corresponding respectively to N- or C-terminal fusions of GFLV-CPF13 with TagRFP, were obtained by overlapping PCRs (Ho et al., 1989) using above described PCR products as templates and overlapping primers encoding the Gly3-Ser-Gly3 peptide linker sequence. The attB-flancked CP, TR, CPTR and TRCP PCR products were cloned by Gateway recombination into the pDONR/Zeo entry vector (Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts) and further recombined into the pEAQ-HT-DEST1 binary plasmid (Sainsbury et al., 2009). For CPEG, in which the C-terminus of GFLV-CPF13 is fused to EGFP, a pDONR™/Zeo vector containing the CP coding sequence devoid of stop codon was used for cloning by recombination in a homemade Gateway expression vector deriving from the pEAQ-HT-DEST1 (Sainsbury et al., 2009) vector by the introduction of the EGFP encoding sequence (Clontech, California) downstream of the attR2 recombination site. Recombination resulted in the introduction of the DPAFLYKVVRSFGPA linker peptide between GFLV-CPF13 C-terminal residue and EGFP (
C. quinoa and N. benthamiana plants were grown in greenhouses at 22/18° C. (day/night) temperatures. GFLV-CPF13 infectious crude sap derived from pMV13+pVecAcc65I2ABC-infected material (Schellenberger et al., 2010) was used to mechanically inoculate a large number of three weeks old C. quinoa plants. Plant were harvested 14 days post-inoculation and used for virus purification. For mechanical inoculations of N. benthamiana, three weeks old plants were inoculated with purified GFLV-CPF13. VLPs were produced by transient expression after agro-infiltration of N. benthamiana leaves. Binary plasmids were introduced by electroporation and maintained in Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain GV3101::pMP90. Cultures were grown to stable phase in Luria-Bertani media with appropriated antibiotics, pelleted and then resuspended in sterile water, alone or in a 1:1 ratio for coexpression, to a final optical density of 0.5 at 600 nm. Suspensions were infiltrated into four weeks old N. benthamiana leaves with 2 ml plastic syringes. Healthy, infected and agro-infiltrated N. benthamiana plants were maintained in a growth chamber set at 14/10 photoperiod (4800 lx) with a temperature setting of 21/18° C. (day/night) for 7 days before leaf harvesting.
Fluorescent proteins visualisation was realised 5 days post-agro-infiltration. Leaves were imaged with an AxioZoom V16 macroscope (Zeiss, Germany) using excitation and emission wavelength filters of 450-490 nm and 500-550 nm for EGFP imaging and of 625-655 nm and 665-715 nm for TagRFP visualization. Images were processed using ImageJ (Schneider et al., 2012) and GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP, see Worldwide Website: gimp.org) softwares.
Healthy, infected and agro-infiltrated leaves were grinded at 1:5 w/v ratio in HEPES 100 mM pH8 and clarified for 5 min at 3000 g. GFLV or VLPs detection was performed using commercial DAS-ELISA kit (Bioreba, Switzerland) according the manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, plates were coated with polyclonal anti-GFLV antibodies diluted in coating buffer at 1:1000 dilution, incubated with clarified extracts before the addition of anti-GFLV monoclonal antibodies coupled to alkaline phosphatase at 1:1000 dilution in conjugate buffer. Three washings were done between each step of the DAS-ELISA procedure. Detection was realised using para-nitrophenylphosphate as substrate that produces a yellow water-soluble reaction product in alkaline media. Absorbance at 405 nm was measured with the Titertek Multican MCC/340 reader (Labsystems, France). Samples were considered to be positive when the absorbance values exceed the control samples by at least a factor of three after substrate incubation period.
Healthy, infected and agro-infiltrated leaves were grinded in 100 mM pH 8 HEPES buffer, clarified by centrifugation at 3000 g for 5 min and either processed for simple negative staining, for immunocapture or for ISEM. For all the grids, negative staining was performed on 300 mesh nickel grids covered with carbon-coated Formvar (Electron Microscopy Science, Pennsylvania) by incubation with 1% ammonium molybdate solution for 90 sec. For immunocaptures performed on clarified saps, grids were coated with polyclonal antibodies (Bioreba, Switzerland) at 1:100 dilution, incubated with plant extracts for 2 h at 4° C., washed in HEPES 25 mM pH 8 buffer and finally processed for negative staining. For ISEM on purified CP, CPTR and TRCP VLPs, grids were coated with homemade monoclonal antibodies against GFLV at a 0.05 mg/mL concentration and incubated with VLPs for 1 h at room temperature. After blocking with 2% w/v BSA, 10% v/v normal goat serum, 0.05% TRITON-X100 in 22.5 mM HEPES pH 8, grids were further incubated with either anti-GFLV (Bioreba, Switzerland) at 1:100 dilution or anti-TR polyclonal antibodies at 0.01 mg/mL concentration (Evrogen, Russia) for 1 h at room temperature. Immunogold labelling was performed using anti-rabbit antibodies conjugated to 10 nm colloidal gold particles at 1:50 dilution (British Biocell International, Wales). Washes with 25 mM pH 8 HEPES buffer were done between all steps. ISEM on purified CPEG and CPEG+TRCP VLPs were performed in a similar manner except that polyclonal antibodies against GFLV (Bioreba, Switzerland) were used for capture and either home-made monoclonal antibodies mix against GFLV or monoclonal anti-EG antibodies (Roche, Germany) employed for detection. Finally, immunogold labelling was performed using anti-mouse antibodies conjugated with 10 nm colloidal gold particles (British Biocell International, Wales). Observations were realised using a Philips EM208 transmission electron microscope. Film-based photographs were acquired onto Kodak Electron Image Films SO-163 (Electron Microscopy Science, Pennsylvania) and revealed with the adapted chemicals (Electron Microscopy Science, Pennsylvania). Finally, photographs were scanned to obtain digital electron microscope images and processed using GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP, see Worldwide Website: gimp.org).
CP subunit and capsid representations were made using the previously 3 Å resolved GFLV-F13 atomic structure (PDB ID: 4V5T, Schellenberger, Sauter, et al., 2011) with the UCSF Chimera package (Pettersen et al., 2004). The CP subunit ends accessibility data were obtained using VIPERdb (Carrillo-Tripp et al., 2009).
GFLV-CPF13 virus particles were purified from C. quinoa infected-plants according to Schellenberger, et al., 2011. VLPs were purified from agro-infiltrated N. benthamiana leaves following the same experimental procedure, except that the final discontinuous sucrose gradient was omitted. Briefly, a minimum of 350 grams of leaves were grinded in extraction buffer, filtered, incubated with bentonite and finally clarified by centrifugation for 15 min at 1900 g. VLPs were then precipitated from clarified crude sap by adding PEG-20000 and sodium chloride. Contaminating elements were removed by centrifugation on a sucrose cushion followed by a sucrose density gradient fractionation. 2 ml fractions were collected from which aliquots at 1:500, 1:5000 and 1:10000 dilutions were processed for a semi-quantitative DAS-ELISA assay to identify VLP-enriched fractions that were further pooled before final ultracentrifugation at 290,000 g for 2 hours. After resuspension in HEPES 25 mM pH8, VLPs aliquots were diluted for quantification by a quantitative DAS-ELISA assay (Vigne et al. 2013) using the GFLV-CPF13 virus particles as a standard.
For SDS-Page analysis, 6 μg of GFLV-particles equivalent from each purified sample were separated on an 8% acrylamide gel and stained with Coomassie blue using Instant Blue (Expedeon, England). For mass spectrometry, SDS-Page bands of interest were excised and proteins destained, reduced, alkyled, trypsin-digested overnight, chemotrypsin-digested and finally processed for nanoLC-MSMS analysis on a nanoU3000 (Dionex, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts)-ESI-MicroTOFQII (Bruker, Massachusetts). Mass spectrometry data were analysed with the help of Mascot (Matrix Science Limited, England) and Proteinscape (Bruker, Massachusetts). For Western-Blot analyses, 0.05 μg of each sample were resolved on an 8% acrylamide gel and denatured proteins electrotransferred onto Immobilon PVDF membranes. Membranes were incubated either with rabbit polyclonal anti-GFLV antibodies at a 1:1000 dilution or with commercial polyclonal anti-TR antibodies (Evrogen, Russia) at a 1:5000 dilution. Proteins were revealed by chemiluminescence after incubation with goat anti-rabbit conjugated to horseradish peroxydase at a 1:12500 dilution (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts) and Lumi-Light solution (Roche, Germany). Images were taken with a G:Box imaging system (Syngene, England), analysed with GeneTools (Syngene, England) and finally processed with GIMP (see Worldwide Website: gimp.org).
Purified particles from TRCP, CPEG or CPEG+TRCP samples were diluted in HEPES 25 mM pH8 in order to obtain individual spots upon imaging on an inverted epi-fluorescence microscope Axio Abserver Z1 (Zeiss, Germany) equipped with an Orca Flash4.0 camera (Hamamatsu, Japan) and Spectra X light engine (Lumencor, Oregon). Excitation and emission wavelength filters were 455-495 nm and 505-555 nm for EGFP and of 532.5-557.5 nm and 570-640 nm for TagRFP. Images were finally processed using ImageJ (Schneider et al., 2012) and GIMP softwares (see Worldwide Website: gimp.org).
Native gel electrophoreses of purified virions and VLPs was done in 1% w/v agarose gels in 0.5× Tris Acetate EDTA (TAE) or Tris-Acetate (TA) buffers at pH ranging between 8.0 and 9.0. For nucleic-acids detection, 5 μg of virus particles or VLPs were diluted in loading buffer (10% v/v glycerol, HEPES 25 mM pH 8) supplemented with EtBr at 0.1 μg/mL. After electrophoretic separation, the EtBr-pre-stained gel was first processed for nucleic-acid content using the Gel Doc system (Bio-Rad, California) equipped with a 302 nm excitation source and a 520-640 nm band-pass filter for emission. In a second step, gel was processed for Coomassie blue staining as mentioned previously.
For fluorescence imaging of native gels, 3 μg of purified VLP samples were diluted in the loading buffer and native gel electrophoresis performed in the absence of EtBr. Imaging was done with a G:Box imaging system (Syngene, England) equipped with 450-485 nm excitation LED module and a 510-540 nm band-pass filter for emission for EGFP visualisation. TR excitation was realised with a 480-540 nm LED module and fluorescence emission collected after filtering through a 590-660 nm band-pass filter. For FastRed staining, gels were incubated in FastRed solution in the presence of 1 mM MgCl2 according to manufacturer instruction (Sigma).
The crystal structures of GFLV (PDBid 4V5T), EG (PDBid 1GFL) and TR (PDBid 3M22) were used to model the CPEG, TRCP or TRCPEG VLPs. Chimeric CPs were created with Modeller (Eswar et al., 2006) by appending the linker and corresponding FP sequences to the free C- and N-terminal ends of the CP pointing outside and inside the VLP, respectively. Full capsids were reconstituted using the icosahedral symmetry in PyMOL (The PyMOL Molecular Graphics System, Version 1.7.4 Schrödinger, LLC). The position of the FP in the TRCP capsid was adjusted to avoid steric clashes using Coot (Emsley et al., 2010).
Mean particle diameters and polydispersity of TRCP VLP alone or complexed to Nb23 to Nb23:EGFP or to Nb23:ALP was estimated by DLS using a Zetasizer NanoZS (Malvern) and Nanostar (Wyatt). Five successive measurements were performed using three independent virus and protein preparations with virus at 0.1 mg/ml in Tris buffer (50 mM Tris, 100 mM NaCl, pH 8.3), Nb23 at 0.2 mg/ml, Nb23:EGFP at 0.5 mg/ml and Nb23:ALP at 1 mg/ml. Scattered intensities were recorded at 20° C. and data processed with DTS software (version 6.01) or DYNAMICS (version 7.1.8.93), respectively. All particles were monodisperse.
1. GFLV Coat Protein Self-Assembles into Virus-Like Particles
To address the ability of GFLV coat protein (CP) to produce VLPs in planta, the sequence encoding the CP of GFLV isolate F13 (SEQ ID NO: 1 with no N-ter methionine) was introduced in the pEAQ-HT-DEST1 binary vector (Sainsbury et al., 2009) (
2. GFLV CP Maintains its Capacity to Assemble into VLPs Upon Fusion of its N- or C-Terminal Ends to Foreign Proteins
Analysis of the GFLV atomic structure (Schellenberger et al. 2011b) reveals that the GFLV CP amino-terminal residue Gly1 and the three carboxy-terminal residues Phe502, Pro503 and Val504 do not contribute to the final quaternary structure of the virus capsid and are exposed at the inner and outer surfaces of the GFLV particle, respectively (
To confirm our results and to gain insights into the biochemical properties of such VLPs, large-scale production in N. benthamiana leaves was carried out followed by purification using standard GFLV purification procedure that includes clarification and ultracentrifugation steps in the absence of protease inhibitors (see methods). In parallel, GFLV-CPF13 virions were purified from infected C. quinoa leaves at 14 dpi. After linear sucrose gradient, a sharp pink band was observed in the TRCP gradient (
To assess their quality and purity, purified samples were analysed by Coomassie blue staining after SDS-PAGE (
To gain insights into the composition of the purified products, Coomassie-stained bands were subjected to mass spectrometry analysis leading to the identification of peptides covering nearly the entire CP for all bands analysed (
To gain insights into the orientation of N- and C-terminal CP fusions, VLPs were further subjected to negative staining and immuno-sorbent electron microscopy analyses. As expected, direct coating of purified material onto nickel grids followed by negative staining revealed the presence of numerous VLPs in all samples (
In view of our results, we next tested the capacity of GFLV CP to form hybrid VLPs upon co-expression of N- and C-terminal CP fusions. To do so, EGFP was selected as reporter protein and fused to the CP N-terminus as indicated in
To confirm the production of bona fide hybrid VLPs and hence the presence of particles that emit simultaneously in green and red, purified samples were further processed for single particle imaging by epifluorescence microscopy. In this manner, numerous TRCP VLPs were observed that appeared as individual spots emitting only in the red channel (
5. The GFLV VLPs are Free from Nucleic Acids
To examine the content of the VLPs, native agarose gel electrophoresis was performed and gel stained either with Coomassie blue for protein content (
6. GFLV CP-Derived VLPs are Compatible with the Simultaneous Encapsidation and Exposure of Up to 120 FPs
To estimate the maximum number of FPs that could be incorporated in VLPs upon genetic fusion to the CP, we modeled CPEG- and TRCP-derived particles (see experimental procedures). Both fusions turned out to be fully compatible with the formation of VLPs (
Nb23 which has been described in WO2015/110601 can efficiently bind to purified GFLV particles allowing the structure of the GFLV-Nb23 complex to be determined by single particle cryo-electron microscopy at 2.8 Å resolution (
To test whether GFLV CP-derived VLPs are compatible with the binding of Nb23 similarly to viral particles, dynamic light scattering (dls) and native agarose gel electrophoresis analyses were performed. Dls revealed that TRCP VLPs alone are monodisperse with a particle diameter of 32.0 nm±2 nm (mean±SD) whereas in the presence of saturating concentration of Nb23, the diameter of TRCP VLPs increased to 37.8±2 nm (
To assess whether VLP can be decorated with larger molecules, TRCP VLP where incubated in the presence of purified Nb23 fused to EGFP (27 kDa) (SEQ ID NO: 20) or to bacterial alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (SEQ ID NO: 21), a homo-dimeric protein of approximately 58 kDa for each monomer (Muller et al., 2001), and tested by dls and native agarose gel electrophoresis. Similarly to our previous results with Nb23, a significant increase of the apparent diameter of the VLPs was observed in the presence of either Nb23:GFP (43.8+/−2 nm (mean+/−SD, n=3)) or Nb23ALP (40.0+/−2 nm (mean+/−SD, n=3)) (
Finally we could demonstrate that Nb23:GFP binding to VLPs is saturable since shift in VLP mobility progressively increased upon addition of increasing amount of Nb23:GFP (
Altogether our results demonstrate that nanobodies allow efficient and rapid display of foreign proteins at the surface of GFLV CP-derived VLPs. They also show that molecules as large as Nb23:GFP (≅42 Kda) and Nb23:ALP (≅73 kDa in its monomeric form) can be bound to VLP without loss of activity.
MGLAGRGVIYIPKDCQANRYLGTLNIRDMISDFKGVQYEKWITAGLVMPTFKIVIRLPANAFTGLTWVMSFDAYNRITSRITA
SADPVYTLSVPHWLIHHKLGTFSCEIDYGELCGRAMWFKSTTFESPRLHFTCLTGNNKELAADWQAVVELYAELEEATSFLGK
PTLVFDPGVFNGKFQFLTCPPIFFDLTAVTALRSAGLTLGQVPMVGTTKVYNLNSTLVSCVLGMGGTVRGRVHICAPIFYSIV
LWVVSEWNGTTMDWNELFKYPGVYVEEDGSFEVKIRSPYHRTPARLLAGQSQRDMSSLNFYAIAGPIAPSGETAQLPIVVQID
EIVRPDLSLPSFEDDYFVWVDFSEFTLDKEEIEIGSRFFDFTSNTCRVSMGENPFAAMIACHGLHSGVLDLKLQWSLNTEFGK
SSGSVTITKLVGDKAMGLDGPSHVFAIQKLEGTTELLVGNFAGANPNTRFSLYSRWMAIKLDQAKSIKVLRVLCKPRPGFSFY
GRTSFPV
GGGSGGGMSELIKENMHMKLYMEGTVNNHHFKCTSEGEGKPYEGTQTMRIKVVEGGPLPFAFDILATSFMYGSRTF
IPKDCQANRYLGTLNIRDMISDFKGVQYEKWITAGLVMPTFKIVIRLPANAFTGLTWVMSFDAYNRITSRITASADPVYTLSV
PHWLIHHKLGTFSCEIDYGELCGRAMWFKSTTFESPRLHFTCLTGNNKELAADWQAVVELYAELEEATSFLGKPTLVFDPGVF
NGKFQFLTCPPIFFDLTAVTALRSAGLTLGQVPMVGTTKVYNLNSTLVSCVLGMGGTVRGRVHICAPIFYSIVLWVVSEWNGT
TMDWNELFKYPGVYVEEDGSFEVKIRSPYHRTPARLLAGQSQRDMSSLNFYAIAGPIAPSGETAQLPIVVQIDEIVRPDLSLP
SFEDDYFVWVDFSEFTLDKEEIEIGSRFFDFTSNTCRVSMGENPFAAMIACHGLHSGVLDLKLQWSLNTEFGKSSGSVTITKL
VGDKAMGLDGPSHVFAIQKLEGTTELLVGNFAGANPNTRFSLYSRWMAIKLDQAKSIKVLRVLCKPRPGFSFYGRTSFPV
MGLAGRGVIYIPKDCQANRYLGTLNIRDMISDFKGVQYEKWITAGLVMPTFKIVIRLPANAFTGLTWVMSFDAYNRITSRITA
PTLVFDPGVFNGKFQFLTCPPIFFDLTAVTALRSAGLTLGQVPMVGTTKVYNLNSTLVSCVLGMGGTVRGRVHICAPIFYSIV
LWVVSEWNGTTMDWNELFKYPGVYVEEDGSFEVKIRSPYHRTPARLLAGQSQRDMSSLNFYAIAGPIAPSGETAQLPIVVQID
EIVRPDLSLPSFEDDYFVWVDFSEFTLDKEEIEIGSRFFDFTSNTCRVSMGENPFAAMIACHGLHSGVLDLKLQWSLNTEFGK
SSGSVTITKLVGDKAMGLDGPSHVFAIQKLEGTTELLVGNFAGANPNTRFSLYSRWMAIKLDQAKSIKVLRVLCKPRPGFSFY
GRTSFPV
DPAFLYKVVRSFGPAMVSKGEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKFSVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTL
IPKDCQANRYLGTLNIRDMISDFKGVQYEKWITAGLVMPTFKIVIRLPANAFTGLTWVMSFDAYNRITSRITASADPVYTLSV
PHWLIHHKLGITSCEIDYGELCGHAMWFKSTTFESPRLHETCLTGNNKELAADWQAVVELYAELEEATSFLGKPTLVFDPGVF
NGKFQFLTCPPIFFDLTAVTALRSAGLTLGQVPMVGTTKVYNLNSTLVSCVLGMGGTVRGRVHICAPIFYSIVLWVVSEWNGT
TMDWNELFKYPGVYVEEDGSFEVKIRSPYHRTPARLLAGQSQRDMSSLNEYAIAGPIAPSGETAQLPIVVQIDEIVRPDLSLP
SFEDDYFVWVDFSEFTLDKEEIEIGSRFFDFTSNTCRVSMGENPFAAMIACHGLHSGVLDLKLQWSLNTEFGKSSGSVTITKL
VGDKAMGLDGPSHVFAIQKLEGTTELLVGNFAGANPNTRFSLYSRWMAIKLDQAKSIKVLRVLCKPRPGFSFYGRTSFPVDPA
QVQLQESGGGSVQVGGSLRVACAASGDTFSGYLAAWFRQAPGKGREGVAAINSKRHTTSYADSVKGRFTISKDNADNIMYLEM
NSLKPEDTAIYYCAAADAIGLAEYWSTPTLSAARYKYWGQGTQVTVSSGGGSGGGMVSKGEELFTGVVPILVELDGDVNGHKF
SVSGEGEGDATYGKLTLKFICTTGKLPVPWPTLVTTLTYGVQCFSRYPDHMEQHDFFKSAMPEGYVQERTIFFKDDGNYKTRA
EVKFEGDTLVNRIELKGIDEKEDGNILGHKLEYNYNSHNVYIMADKQKNGIKVNFKIRHNIEDGSVQLADHYQQNTPIGDGPV
LLPDNHYLSTQSALSKDPNEKRDHMVLLEFVTAAGITLGMDELYKTSHHHHHH
QVQLQESGGGSVQVGGSLRVACAASGDTFSGYLAAWFRQAPGKGREGVAAINSKRHTTSYADSVKGRFTISKDNADNIMYLEM
NSLKPEDTAIYYCAAADAIGLAEYWSTPTLSAARYKYWGQGTQVTVSSGGGSGGGVKQSTIALALLPLLFTPVTKARTPEMPL
QTQATSREEPPRLPSKHRPGVKTQATSREEPPRLPSKHRPGVKTQATSREEPPRLPSKHRPGVKTQATSREEPPRLPSKHRPG
VKTQATSLEVLENRAAQGDITAPGGARRLTGDQTAALRDSLSDKPAKNIILLIGDGMGDSEITAARNYAEGAGGFFKGIDALP
LTGQYTHYALNKKTGKPDYVTDSAASATAWSTGVKTYNGALGVDTHEKDHPTILEMAKAAGLATGNVSTAELQDATPAALVAH
VTSRKCYGPSATSEKCPGNALEKGGKGSITEQLLNARADVTLGGGAKTFAETATAGEWQGKTLREQAQARGYQLVSDAASLNS
VTEANQQKPLLGLEADGNMPVRWLGPKATYHGNIDKPAVTCTPNPQRNDSVPTLAQMTDKAIELLSKNEKGFELQVEGASIDK
QDHAANPCGQIGETVDLDEAVQRALEFAKKEGNTLVIVTADHAHASQIVAPDTKAPGLTQALNTKDGAVMVMSYGNSEEDSQE
HTGSQLRIAAYGPHAAHHHHHH
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15306396.1 | Sep 2015 | EP | regional |
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/758,732, filed Mar. 9, 2018, which is the U.S. national stage application of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2016/071364, filed Sep. 9, 2016. The Sequence Listing for this application is labeled “Seq-List.txt” which was created on Feb. 22, 2018 and is 81 KB. The entire content of the sequence listing is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The present invention relates to novel fusion polypeptides and the uses thereof. The invention particularly relates to conjugated coat proteins derived from nepoviruses, virus-like particles made with such proteins, and the uses thereof. The particles of the invention can expose and/or encage molecules of interest and have utility in various fields such as the pharmaceutical, agro, or veterinary areas.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15758732 | Mar 2018 | US |
| Child | 16662278 | US |
