by Todd Talarico, PhD, Maureen Maughan, PhD, Bruno Pancorbo, Jennifer Ruiz, PhD, and Andrew Graham
Volume 5, Issue 3 (Fall 2006)
Vaccines represent the most effective means of disease prevention. A variety of vaccines including live-attenuated strains, inactivated organisms, and subunit forms are currently in use. However, advances in molecular biology, virology and immunology have made new classes of potential vaccines possible. One such class currently being developed by AlphaVax is based on an alphavirus-derived expression system. Alphaviruses are members of the Togaviridae family and have positive-sense RNA genomes. The RNA genome is surrounded by a capsid composed of 240 copies of a single capsid protein. Alphaviruses are enveloped viruses that mature at the plasma membrane of the host cell and are 50-70 nm in diameter. The viral envelope contains 80 trimers composed of two viral glycoproteins, E1 and E2. These trimers contain three E1-E2 heterodimers and are arranged in the viral envelope as spikes which protrude from the surface of the virus particle…
Citation:
Talarico T, Maughan M, Pancorbo B, Ruiz J, Graham A. Development and Manufacture of Alphavaccines. BioProcess J, 2006; 5(3): 8-14. https://doi.org/10.12665/J53.Talarico