Epidemiological distribution of genotypes and sub-genotypes of hepatitis B virus in 15 ethnic groups in China / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective: To understand the distribution of genotypes and sub-genotypes of HBV in different ethnic groups in China. Methods: The HBsAg positive samples were selected by stratified multi-stage cluster sampling from the sample base of national HBV sero-epidemiological survey in 2020 for the amplification of S gene of HBV by nested PCR. A phylogeny tree was constructed to determine the genotypes and sub-genotypes of HBV. The distribution of genotypes and sub-genotypes of HBV were analyzed comprehensively by using laboratory data and demographic data. Results: A total of 1 539 positive samples from 15 ethnic groups were successfully amplified and analyzed, and 5 genotypes (B, C, D, I and C/D) were detected. The proportion of genotype B was higher in ethnic group of Han (74.52%, 623/836), Zhuang (49.28%, 34/69), Yi (53.19%, 25/47), Miao (94.12%, 32/34), Buyi (81.48%, 22/27). The proportions of genotype C were higher in ethnic groups of Yao (70.91%, 39/55). Genotype D was the predominant genotype in Uygur (83.78%, 31/37). Genotype C/D were detected in Tibetan (92.35%,326/353). In this study, 11 cases of genotype I were detected, 8 of which were distributed in Zhuang nationality. Except for Tibetan, sub-genotype B2 accounted for more than 80.00% in genotype B in all ethnic groups. The proportions of sub-genotype C2 were higher in 8 ethnic groups, i.e. Han, Tibetan, Yi, Uygur, Mongolian, Manchu, Hui and Miao. The proportions of sub-genotype C5 were higher in ethnic groups of Zhuang (55.56%, 15/27) and Yao (84.62%, 33/39). For genotype D, sub-genotype D3 was detected in Yi ethnic group and sub-genotype D1 was detected in both Uygur and Kazak. The proportions of sub-genotype C/D1 and C/D2 in Tibetan were 43.06% (152/353) and 49.29% (174/353). For all the 11 cases of genotype I infection, only sub-genotype I1 was detected. Conclusions: Five genotypes and 15 sub-genotypes of HBV were found in 15 ethnic groups. There were significant differences in the distribution of genotypes and sub-genotypes of HBV among different ethnic groups.

Intranasal Immunization Using CTA1-DD as a Mucosal Adjuvant for an Inactivated Influenza Vaccine / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the effect of intranasal immunization with CTA1-DD as mucosal adjuvant combined with H3N2 split vaccine.@*METHODS@#Mice were immunized intranasally with PBS (negative control), or H3N2 split vaccine (3 μg/mouse) alone, or CTA1-DD (5 μg/mouse) alone, or H3N2 split vaccine (3 μg/mouse) plus CTA1-DD (5 μg/mouse). Positive control mice were immunized intramuscularly with H3N2 split vaccine (3 μg/mouse) and alum adjuvant. All the mice were immunized twice, two weeks apart. Then sera and mucosal lavages were collected. The specific HI titers, IgM, IgG, IgA, and IgG subtypes were examined by ELISA. IFN-γ and IL-4 were test by ELISpot. In addition, two weeks after the last immunization, surivival after H3N2 virus lethal challenge was measured.@*RESULTS@#H3N2 split vaccine formulated with CTA1-DD could elicit higher IgM, IgG and hemagglutination inhibition titers in sera. Furthermore, using CTA1-DD as adjuvant significantly improved mucosal secretory IgA titers in bronchoalveolar lavages and vaginal lavages. Meanwhile this mucosal adjuvant could enhance Th-1-type responses and induce protective hemagglutination inhibition titers. Notably, the addition of CTA1-DD to split vaccine provided 100% protection against lethal infection by the H3N2 virus.@*CONCLUSION@#CTA1-DD could promote mucosal, humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, which supports the further development of CTA1-DD as a mucosal adjuvant for mucosal vaccines.

Efficient Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses Induced by a Chimeric Virus-like Particle Displaying the Epitope of EV71 without Adjuvant / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To eliminate the side effects of aluminum adjuvant and His-tag, we constructed chimeric VLPs displaying the epitope of EV71 (SP70) without His-tagged. Then evaluating whether the VLPs could efficiently evoke not only humoral but also cellular immune responses against EV71 without adjuvant.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The fusion protein was constructed by inserting SP70 into the MIR of truncated HBcAg sequence, expressed in E. Coli, and purified through ion exchange chromatography and density gradient centrifugation. Mice were immunized with the VLPs and sera were collected afterwards. The specific antibody titers, IgG subtypes and neutralizing efficacy were detected by ELISA, neutralization assay, and EV71 lethal challenge. IFN-γ and IL-4 secreted by splenocytes were tested by ELISPOT assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HBc-SP70 proteins can self-assemble into empty VLPs. After immunization with HBc-SP70 VLPs, the detectable anti-EV71 antibodies were effective in neutralizing EV71 and protected newborn mice from EV71 lethal challenge. There was no significant difference for the immune efficacy whether the aluminum adjuvant was added or not. The specific IgG subtypes were mainly IgG1 and IgG2b and splenocytes from the mice immunized produced high levels of IFN-γ and IL-4.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The fusion proteins without His-tagged was expressed and purified as soluble chimeric HBc-SP70 VLPs without renaturation. In the absence of adjuvant, they were efficient to elicit high levels of Th1/Th2 mixed immune response as well as assisted by aluminum adjuvant. Furthermore, the chimeric VLPs have potential to prevent HBV and EV71 infection simultaneously.</p>

Expression and Purification of Recombinant Hepatitis Delta Virus (HDV) Antigen for Use in a Diagnostic ELISA for HDV Infection Using the High-Density Fermentation Strategy in Escherichia coli / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Hepatitis Delt a Virus (HDV) antigen is widely used as a capture antigen in ELISAs for the identification of HDV infection; large amounts of recombinant HDV antigen with active antigenicity are required for this purpose.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Reconstruct the gene of HDV antigen based on the bias code of Escherichia coli, the recombinant protein expresses by high-density fermentation with fed-batch feeding strategy, and purify by immobilized metal chromatography. The sensitivity and specificity of this antigen detect by ELISA method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of HDV antigen can reach 20% of the total cell mass in the soluble form. The recombinant HDV antigen can be conveniently purified (98%) by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) using the interaction between a His-tag and nickel ions. Production of recombinant HDV antigen can reach 0.5 g/L under conditions of high-density cell fermentation. Applied to the diagnostic ELISA method, the recombinant HDV antigen shows excellent sensitivity (97% for IgM and 100% for IgG) and specificity (100% for IgG and IgM) for the detection of anti-HDV antibodies.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Expression and purification the recombinant HDV antigen as a candidate protein for application in a diagnostic ELISA for HDV infection. Large-scale production of the protein can be achieved using the high-density fermentation strategy.</p>

Prokaryotic soluble expression of protein D of Haemophilus influenzae type b / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To express the recombinant D protein in prokaryotic expression system solubly and make preparation for producing D-carrier conjugate vaccine next step.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The hpd gene fragment removed of signal peptide from genomic DNA of Hib CMCC was inserted into pET43. 1a. The recombinant plasmid was transformed to competent E. coli BL21 (DE3) for expression under induction of IPTG. The expressed recombination protein was precipitated with ammonium sulfate, purified by DEAE anion exchange column chromatography and identified for reactogenicity by Western Blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expressed recombination protein, in a soluble form, constained about 50% of total somatic protein and showed specific reaction with the HIB antisera after preliminary purification.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The D protein recombined expression plasmid was constructed successfully and expressed D protein in prokaryotic cells in a solube form.</p>

Construction of recombinant CHO cell strain for high expression of HBsAg / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To overexpress hepatitis B virus S gene in CHO cells cultured in serum-free media.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Plasmid was constructed by cloning of HBV S gene and then it was transfected into CHO cells. After cell screen, the positive clones were identified and isolated into a serum-free media followed by the serological and morphological characterization of the expression product.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>CHO cell strains which can express HBsAg efficiently and stably were obtained. Spherical and filamentous HBsAg could be detected under electronic microscope. The titer of the expression product was up to 1:5000.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Serum-free media cultured CHO cell strain for overexpression of HBsAg was successfully constructed and the expression product was high antigenic.</p>

Detection of hepatitis A virus RNA with an improved loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a novel improved loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique to detect hepatitis A virus (HAV).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A novel improved LAMP assay based on the addition of an acceleration primer was developed for hepatitis A virus nucleotide acid detection.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Precision and reproducibility analysis proved its high stability and reliability. Comparison between the improved and conventional LAMP assays revealed that the former was more sensitive with a detection limit of 5 TCID50/ml. The novel detection method displayed 100% consistency with the TaqMan real-time PCR assay when applied to clinical specimens collected from patients with confirmed acute HAV infection.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This novel technique is widely applicable as a simple diagnostic tool in the clinical field as well as for the surveillance and investigation of the infectious disease in developing countries where HAV is endemic.</p>

Gene optimization, protein expression, purification and characterization of the HDV antigen for diagnosis / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To prepare HDAg with biological activities as a candidate of diagnostic reagent.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>To synthesize HDV gene fragment after codon optimization. To construct a thio-fused recombinant plasmid based on M48 expression vector. To express in E. coli induced by IPTG. To purify the protein by affinity chromatography followed by characterization in ELISA:</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Plasmid construction was verified by enzyme digestion. SDS-PAGE indicated the molecular weight of the protein was the same as we expectation. ELISA proved its affinity with HDV antibodies.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HDAg was obtained successfully and it will pave the road to the research of HDV diagnostic reagent.</p>

Effect of gene optimization on the expression and purification of HDV small antigen produced by genetic engineering / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of gene optimization on the expression and purification of HDV small antigen produced by genetic engineering.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Based on the colon preference of E. coli, the HDV small antigen original gene from GenBank was optimized. Both the original gene and the optimized gene expressed in prokaryotic cells, SDS-PAGE was made to analyze the protein expression yield and to decide which protein expression style was more proportion than the other. Furthermore, two antigens were purified by chromatography in order to compare the purity by SDS-PAGE and Image Lab software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SDS-PAGE indicated that the molecular weight of target proteins from two groups were the same as we expected. Gene optimization resulted in the higher yield and it could make the product more soluble. After chromatography, the purity of target protein from optimized gene was up to 96.3%, obviously purer than that from original gene.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Gene optimization could increase the protein expression yield and solubility of genetic engineering HDV small antigen. In addition, the product from the optimized gene group was easier to be purified for diagnosis usage.</p>

The investigation of hepatitis D virus infection situation in the human with HBsAg in Foshan of Guangdong province / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the seroprevalence of hepatitis D virus in Foshan of Guangdong province, to provide the data for the study about it in China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>ELISA kits from two different companies were used for detecting anti-HDV IgG of all the serum samples, and then RT-PCR was carried out about the selected serum to ensure the results. All the serum samples were collected in 2011 in The First People's Hospital of Foshan.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The results from two ELISA kits and RT-PCR were identical. Eight samples were positive.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The seroprevalence rate of HDV in Foshan is higher than that in China. It has no statistically significant difference between female and male. Morever, the older with HBsAg are susceptible to HDV.</p>