Production of immunologically active surface antigens of hepatitis B virus by Escherichia coli.

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Abstract
Several plasmids were constructed which direct the synthesis of hepatitis B virus surface antigens in E. coli, either as the native polypeptide or fused to other plasmid-encoded polypeptides. When injected into rabbits, extracts from bacteria carrying some of these plasmids induced the synthesis of antibodies to the antigens, even though the extracts did not give satisfactory positive results in radioimmunoassay for them. Either the NH2-terminal segment or the COOH-terminal segment of the surface antigens alone was sufficient to elicit the immune response; antibodies against the 2 segments showed different specificities. The value of an in vivo assay for the presence of antigens in crude cell extracts was emphasized. The feasibility of this type of screening with laboratory animals was illustrated.