ABSTRACT
Cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) might be successfully prevented by HPV vaccination and screening. HPV vaccination and HPV serology assays have been investigated using HPV virus-like particles (VLPs). In this study we produced HPV18 L1 VLPs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and purified them. The HPV18 L1 gene was cloned into the yeast expression vector YEGalpha-HIR525, and transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Expression of HPV18 L1 protein was demonstrated by Western blotting. The HPV18 L1 protein was purified by ultracentrifugation, size-exclusion chromatography and cation-exchange chromatography, and was up to 95% pure. We showed by transmission electron microscopy that the purified protein self-assembled into VLPs. These findings should be useful for establishing vaccine efficacy as well as characterizing vaccine candidates, and may provide an international reference standard for HPV serology assays.
