Increased antibody responses to human papillomavirus type 16 L1 protein expressed by recombinant vaccinia virus lacking serine protease inhibitor genes.

The L1 gene of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) driven by the vaccinia virus major late 4b gene promoter has been inserted into three different sites of the vaccinia virus genome. Insertion into the thymidine kinase (TK) gene was achieved by selection of TK- mutants in BUdR on TK- cells. Insertion into two vaccinia virus serine protease inhibitor (serpin) genes was achieved by co-insertion of the Escherichia coli xanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase gene linked to the vaccinia virus 7.5K promoter and selection of mycophenolic acid-resistant recombinant viruses. Each recombinant virus expressed a 57K L1 protein at similar levels and with similar kinetics. However, immunization of mice with these recombinant viruses induced different levels of antibody to the L1 protein. Viruses lacking serpin genes B13R and B24R induced significantly higher antibody levels than did viruses lacking the TK gene. The presence of functional B13R and B24R gene products is therefore somehow immunosuppressive at least for antibody responses to the L1 protein of HPV-16.