ABSTRACT
Objective To establish a mouse model of genital human papillomavirus (HPV) pseudovirion (PsV) transmission and evaluate the protective potency of HPV16 VLP vaccine.Methods HPV16 PsV with the encapsidated luciferase expressing plasmid Luc were generated from 293FT cells and purified by size-exclusion chromatography.The endpoint titers of HPV16 PsV-Luc were determined on 293FT cells, denoted as TRLU/mL.For in vivo genital challenge, mice were synchronized in a diestrus-like status by a subcutaneous injection with 0.1 μg β-estradiol and then with 3mg DepoProvera after 24 hours.Six hours prior to HPV16 PsV-Luc challenge, deeply anesthetized mice were intravaginally pretreated with 50 μL of 4%nonoxynol-9 ( N-9 ).HPV16 PsV-Luc was thoroughly mixed with 20 μL solution containing 4%carboxymethylcellulose ( CMC ) and intravaginally instilled using a positive-displacement pipette.Forty-eight hours after PsV-Luc challenge, mice were anesthetized and D luciferin was intravaginally instilled.After 3 minites, bioluminescence was measured with a cryogenically cooled Xenogen IVIS camera system.Then,the murine genital challenge model was used to determine the potency that HPV16 VLP vaccine is efficient at preventing HPV infection.Results HPV16 PsV-Luc was generated and purified from 293FT cells.HPV16 PsV-Luc was verified to containe L1 and L2 protein by Western blot.HPV 16 PsV-Luc successfully infected vaginal epithelial cells of mouse and the murine genital challenge model was established.To achieve consistent bioluminescence, the minimal dose of HPV16 PsV-Luc was 1.7 ×104 TRLU.The protective potency of HPV16 VLP vaccine was shown using this murine model.Our data showed that immune serum with over neutralizing antibody titer of 256-fold was sufficient to confer protection against HPV PsV genital infection .Conclusion The murine genital challenge model of HPV16 was successfully established, and the model is used to evaluate the potency of HPV16 VLP vaccine against in vivo genital HPV16 PsV challenge.Our model will benefit for the investigation of HPV neutralization and the potency evaluation of the HPV vaccine .