Expression of an HBcAg-based antigen carrying angiotensin II in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a candidate hypertension vaccine

In contrast to traditional pharmacological treatments for hypertension, immunotherapies serve as promising alternatives as they are low-cost and afford better patient compliance. In this study, a chimeric protein targeting Angiotensin II via genetic fusion to a nucleocapsid antigen from Hepatitis B virus (HBcAg), serving as a carrier, is designed. This candidate immunogen designated as HBcAgII has been expressed in the alga specie Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, serving as an attractive vaccine expression system and delivery host. This alga can be grown on minimal media under controlled environmental conditions, and can serve as a safe oral delivery vehicle. Transgenic C. reinhardtii lines have been developed, and the expected recombinant protein has been detected by Western blot and ELISA analyses. Levels of expression of this recombinant protein in some transgenic lines have reached 0.05 % of total soluble protein. The immunogenic properties of the HBcAgII algae-derived antigen will be assessed.