The splenocyte total RNA was extracted and 1 g of purified RNA was reverse transcribed to cDNA using the SuperScript IV First-Strand Synthesis System and oligo-dT primers (Thermo Fisher Scientific). significantly higher anti-HA antibody titre in ELISA after vaccination. Although Sf21 VLP recipients expressed more IFN- and IL-4, the increase in IFN- did not significantly raise the CD4+/CD8+ ratio and the increase in IL-4 did not promote anti-HA antibodies. Conclusion Both VLP systems possess desirable immunogenicity (Sf) insect cell line and silkworm (DH10Bac (Thermo Fisher Scientific) for generation of this bacmid DNA. The recombinant bacmid DNA was transfected into Sf21 insect cells. Recombinant Bac-H5M1 baculovirus was then generated after three passages and the virus titre was determined using a plaque assay in the Sf21 cells. To generate recombinant nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV), the pFastBac Dual expression vector containing codon-optimised sequences encoding HA and M1 was first electroporated into DH10Bac/BmNPV for production of recombinant BmNPV bacmid DNA. Next, the BmNPV bacmid DNA was transfected into silkworm Bm-N cells. Recombinant H5M1-BmNPV was generated after three passages, and the virus titre was determined using a plaque assay in the Bm-N cells. VLP production and purification. Sf21 cells were infected with rBac-H5M1 baculovirus at 0.02 multiplicity of infection (MOI) at 28C for Sf21VLP formation. Silkworm pupa VLPs were produced by injecting 5 L of rH5M1-BmNPV (1 106 pfu/mL) into pupae on the third day Rabbit Polyclonal to EFEMP2 of pupation and incubating them for 4 days at 25C. Next, the infected pupae were ground and homogenised using a sonicator (Misonix, Farmingdale, NY, USA) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing 0.01% formalin (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and 100 M phenylthiourea (Sigma-Aldrich) as antioxidants. Sonication was performed and the resultant homogenate was then centrifuged at 4,500 g for 30 min. The supernatant was further centrifuged at 22,000 g for 30 min. The final Anisole Methoxybenzene supernatant was filtered using a 0.45 m filter and pelleted by centrifugation at 150,000 g for 1 h at 4C. The Sf21 VLP and silkworm pupa VLP pellets were resuspended in a buffer of 10 Anisole Methoxybenzene mM Tris base, 1 mM EDTA, and 100 mM NaCl. Following this, sucrose gradient centrifugation was performed to obtain purified VLPs. The total purified VLP protein amount was quantified using the Pierce Coomassie Plus (Bradford) Assay Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific) according to the manufacturers instructions. The VLP HA protein concentration was quantified using an ELISA developed by RuenHuei Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (Taipei, Taiwan). Western blot analysis. The protein expression of synthetic H5 and M1 genes was verified using Western blot. Both purified Sf21 VLPs and silkworm pupa VLPs were run on 12% polyacrylamide gels alongside a PageRuler Plus prestained protein ladder (Thermo Fisher Scientific). The separated proteins were then transferred onto Immobilon-P membranes (Sigma-Aldrich). The membranes were blocked and further incubated with mouse anti-His tag antibody (Sigma-Aldrich) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)Cconjugated goat anti-mouse (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA, USA). The signal was visualised after development with 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) liquid substrate (Sigma-Aldrich) at room temperature. Transmission electron microscopy. Purified VLPs were absorbed onto a plasma-discharged copper grid for 3 min and fixed with 2% phosphotungstic acid (catalogue number P4006, Sigma-Aldrich) for 1 min. VLPs were then imaged using an EM-1400 transmission electron microscope (Jeol USA, Anisole Methoxybenzene Peabody, MA, USA). Chicken immunisation. Two-week-old specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were obtained from JD-SPF Biotech (Miaoli, Taiwan). Animals were randomly divided into three groups (n = 6 per group) receiving Sf21 VLPs, silkworm pupa VLPs or PBS. Briefly, VLPs of each group containing 20 g HA protein were emulsified with complete Freunds adjuvant (Thermo Fisher Scientific) at a 1:1 ratio and used for the primary immunisation a subcutaneous route on day 1. For the booster dose, the same amount of the antigen was mixed with incomplete Freunds adjuvant (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and injected on day 14. Chicken serum was collected at 7, 21, 38 and 46 days post immunisation (dpi), and all chickens were sacrificed thereafter using CO2 inhalation. Haemagglutination (HA) and haemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests. The HA and HI tests were performed with standard WHO protocols (30). The HA activities of purified Sf21 VLPs and silkworm pupa VLPs were tested against 1% chicken red blood cells. The HA titres were recorded as the highest dilution exhibiting complete haemagglutination. For the HI tests, chicken sera were pre-treated with receptor-destroying enzyme (Denka Seiken, Tokyo, Japan) and incubated with 4 HA units of Sf21 VLPs, silkworm pupa VLPs, or A/Anhui/1/2005 (H5N1, clade 2.3.4). The chicken serum HI titre was recorded as the highest serum dilution exhibiting complete haemagglutination inhibition. ELISA analysis. An equivalent amount of purified Sf21 VLPs, silkworm pupa VLPs, or A/Anhui/1/2005 (H5N1, clade 2.3.4) containing10 ng HA protein was coated.