Capsid destabilization and epitope alterations of human papillomavirus 18 in the presence of thimerosal
- Author:
Huang XIAOFEN
1
,
2
;
Li YIKE
;
Nie MEIFENG
;
Yue MINGXI
;
Li YUFANG
;
Lin ZHIJIE
;
Pan HUIRONG
;
Fang MUJIN
;
Wu TING
;
Li SHAOWEI
;
Zhang JUN
;
Xia NINGSHAO
;
Zhao QINJIAN
Author Information
1. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics,National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases,School of Public Health,Xiamen University,Xiamen,Fujian,361102,China
2. School of Public Health,Xiamen University,Xiamen,Fujian,361102,China
- Keywords:
Thiol-modifying agent;
Monoclonal antibody;
Antigenicity loss;
Epitope-specific;
Conformational stability
- From:
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis
2021;11(5):617-627
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Thimerosal has been widely used as a preservative in drug and vaccine products for decades.Due to the strong propensity to modify thiols in proteins,conformational changes could occur due to covalent bond formation between ethylmercury(a degradant of thimerosal)and thiols.Such a conformational change could lead to partial or even complete loss of desirable protein function.This study aims to investigate the effects of thimerosal on the capsid stability and antigenicity of recombinant human papillomavirus(HPV)18 virus-like particles(VLPs).Dramatic destabilization of the recombinant viral capsid upon thimerosal treatment was observed.Such a negative effect on the thermal stability of VLPs preserved with thimerosal was shown to be dependent on the thimerosal concentration.Two highly neutralizing antibodies,13H12 and 3C3,were found to be the most sensitive to thimerosal treatment.The kinetics of antigenicity loss,when monitored with 13H12 or 3C3 as probes,yielded two distinctly different sets of kinetic parameters,while the data from both monoclonal antibodies(mAbs)followed a biphasic expo-nential decay model.The potential effect of thimerosal on protein function,particularly for thiol-containing proteinaceous active components,needs to be comprehensively characterized during formulation development when a preservative is necessary.
