Surface modifications of influenza proteins upon virus inactivation by β-propiolactone.

Abstract

Inactivation of intact influenza viruses using formaldehyde or β-propiolactone (BPL) is essential for vaccine production and safety. The extent of chemical modifications of such reagents on viral proteins needs to be extensively investigated to better control the reactions and quality of vaccines. We have evaluated the effect of BPL inactivation on two candidate re-assortant vaccines (NIBRG-121xp and NYMC-X181A) derived from A/California/07/2009 pandemic influenza viruses using high-resolution FT-ICR MS-based proteomic approaches. We report here an ultra performance LC MS/MS method for determining full-length protein sequences of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase through protein delipidation, various enzymatic digestions, and subsequent mass spectrometric analyses of the proteolytic peptides. We also demonstrate the ability to reliably identify hundreds of unique sites modified by propiolactone on the surface of glycoprotein antigens. The location of these modifications correlated with changes to protein folding, conformation, and stability, but demonstrated no effect on protein disulfide linkages. In some cases, these modifications resulted in suppression of protein function, an effect that correlated with the degree of change of the modified amino acids' side chain length and polarity.

• Authors: Yi-Min She, Keding Cheng, Aaron Farnsworth, Xuguang Li, Terry D Cyr
• Journal: Proteomics (Proteomics) Vol. 13 Issue 23-24 Pg. 3537-47 (Dec 2013) ISSN: 1615-9861 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 24123778 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2013 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada Proteomics © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Chemical References

• Antigens, Viral
• Hemagglutinins
• Influenza Vaccines
• NP protein, Influenza A virus
• Nucleocapsid Proteins
• Polysaccharides
• RNA-Binding Proteins
• Viral Core Proteins
• Viral Proteins
• Propiolactone
• NA protein, influenza A virus
• Neuraminidase
• Cysteine

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Antigens, Viral (chemistry)
• Cysteine (chemistry)
• Hemagglutinins (chemistry)
• Influenza Vaccines (chemistry)
• Neuraminidase (chemistry)
• Nucleocapsid Proteins
• Polysaccharides (chemistry)
• Propiolactone (chemistry)
• RNA-Binding Proteins (chemistry)
• Tandem Mass Spectrometry
• Viral Core Proteins (chemistry)
• Viral Proteins (chemistry)
• Virus Inactivation