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. 1989 Aug;86(16):6283–6287. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.16.6283

Immunogenicity of peptide fusions to hepatitis B virus core antigen.

S J Stahl 1, K Murray 1
PMCID: PMC297822  PMID: 2474830

Abstract

Several gene fusions have been constructed in which coding sequences for antigenic regions of the pre-S sequences of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis B surface antigen, and the envelope protein of human immunodeficiency virus were linked to the 3' end of that for the first 144 residues of hepatitis B core antigen. The sequences were expressed efficiently in Escherichia coli to give stable products that assembled to form particles morphologically similar to hepatitis B core antigen itself. The products exhibited the antigenic and immunogenic characteristics of both the hepatitis B core antigen epitopes and the epitopes carried by the additional sequences, thus illustrating the value of such proteins as immunological reagents and potential vaccines.

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Selected References

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