Efficient production of virus-like particles using insect cells

病毒样颗粒（VLP）由一种或几种重组病毒表面蛋白组成，其自发组装成类似于真实病毒颗粒或天然存在的亚病毒颗粒的颗粒结构。高产量的分泌形式的黄病毒VLP成功地产生了鳞翅目昆虫细胞工程共表达前膜（prM）和包膜（E）蛋白。这项研究表明，重组昆虫细胞提供了一个有前途的方法，高水平生产VLP用作疫苗和诊断抗原。

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are composed of one or several recombinant viral surface proteins that spontaneously assemble into particulate structures similar to authentic virus particles or naturally occurring subviral particles. A high yield of a secretory form of flavivirus VLPs was successfully produced by lepidopteran insect cells engineered to coexpress the premembrane (prM) and envelope (E) proteins. This study demonstrated that recombinant insect cells offer a promising approach to the high-level production of VLPs for use as vaccines and diagnostic antigens.