| Abstract: | Although the presence of serum antibodies against the human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) E7 protein has been linked with cervical cancer, currently available assays detect antibodies in only ca. 40% of carcinoma patients. The dependence of these serological assays on synthetic target antigens which present only linear epitopes may be a limiting factor. In order to produce a more realistic target antigen for use in serological assays, we have expressed the HPV-16 E7 protein in insect cells using a recombinant baculovirus vector. Two major E7 forms of ca. 18kDa and 16kDa were produced and characterised. The 16kDa component was shown to be truncated at the N-terminus. A radioimmunoprecipitation assay was developed for the detection of anti-E7 antibodies in human sera. This assay showed a marked increase in detection rate compared with a western blotting method based on bacterially derived E7 fusion proteins. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc. |
