Comparison of human papillomavirus type 16 L1 chimeric virus-like particles versus L1/L2 chimeric virus-like particles in tumor prevention

Chimeric human papillomavirus (HPV) virus-like particles (cVLPs) with the HPV16 E7 antigen fused to either the major capsid protein, L1, or the minor capsid protein, L2, have been used independently to protect against the formation of HPV-induced tumors in animal models. However, the advantages and disadvantages of both types of particles with respect to production and vaccine efficacy have never been analyzed. Therefore, in this study, we compared cVLPs with the HPV16 E7 antigen fused to L1 versus cVLPs with E7 fused to L2 with respect to their ability to protect mice from tumor challenge. The first 57 amino acids of E7 were used to overcome the size limitation and limited VLP production imposed by inserting polypeptides into L1 cVLPs. C57BL/6 mice were immunized with the above cVLPs at various doses. Tumor challenge was then performed with HPV16 E7-positive TC-1 cells. HPV16 L1-E7((1-57)) was superior to HPV16 L1/L2-E7((1-57)) in eliciting tumor protection at equivalent doses, although both types of particles were able to protect mice. Both cVLPs induced a specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response to the H2-D(b)-restricted E7 peptide (E7(49-57)) as determined by an ELISPOT assay and tetramer staining; however, immunization with the L1-E7((1-57)) cVLPs resulted in twofold higher CTL precursor frequencies. Our results demonstrate that cVLPs with the antigen fused to L1 are a more efficient vaccine with respect to tumor prevention than cVLPs with the antigen fused to L2. At the same time, however, L1 cVLPs are limited by the size of the antigen that can be incorporated and in the amount of cVLP that can be obtained from cultures when compared to L1/L2 cVLPs. This balances out their superior ability to induce protective immunity.