Abstract:
Hepatitis B virus remains a leading cause of liver disease worldwide. According to
an estimate approximately 350 million people worldwide have chronic HBV
infection and that 1 million persons die each year from HBV-related chronic liver
disease. HBV infection, caused by a small partially double stranded DNA virus
belonging to Hepadnaviridae family is currently being dealt with vaccination and
antiviral therapy. The present study aims to enhance the production of engineered
Hepatitis B surface antigen as a recombinant vaccine using Kluveromyces lactis
expression system, selected on grounds of its high efficiency and easy growth
conditions. The engineered HBs Ag protein was separated, purified and
concentrated using the techniques of Ammonium Sulphate precipitation and
dialysis before being analysed using ELISA. In this study, it was ascertained that
ASP followed by dialysis produced the maximum concentration of HBsAg
amounting to 0.8 μg/mL. The vaccine developed so far now requires to be
subjected to further more advanced concentration and purification techniques
before being taken to the stage of pilot scale production and animal testing.
