The Native Antigen Company monkeypox antigens

The Native Antigen Company develops and manufactures high-quality recombinant antigens and antibodies as well as offering a range of services for the diagnostic and biopharmaceutical industries. The company’s VirtuE mammalian expression system has been developed for the purpose of producing native-like proteins, which are being widely adopted by in vitro diagnostic, vaccine and academic groups in cutting-edge R&D, where correct folding and glycosylation are vital. Contract services range from antibody generation to scale production of recombinant and native antigens, bespoke assay development and QC.

The Native Antigen Company has moved to develop a series of monkeypox antigens to support research into this disease. The four core proteins P4A, P4B, VP8 and 39kDa protein, and the major envelope protein F13L, are now in development, and will be commercially available in the spring of 2022.

P4A (A11L) is the most abundant protein in the virion and will be presented as a precursor, consisting of the 62kDa peptide and the 23kDa protein. In vivo P4A undergoes proteolytic cleavage by the I7 protease during the transition from immature to mature virion.

P4B (A4L) is another major component of the virion core and will be presented as the mature protein without its propeptide.

VP8 (L4R, P25K) is a major structural core DNA-binding protein and will be presented as the mature protein without its propeptide.

39kDa protein (A5L) is an immunodominant protein expressed late during infection and is present in the viral core.

F13L is a critical component in the production of wrapped virions which is required for cell-to-cell spread of the virus, a major envelop antigen of extracellular virions and a target for phospholipase inhibitors like tecovirimat. This protein will have its two cysteine palmitoylation sites changed to alanine.