Expression and secretion of Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8)VP2 outer capsid protein by mammalian cells

VP2 is the outermost Bluetongue virus (BTV) antigenic protein, forming triskelion motifs on the virion surface. Although VP2 has been expressed successfully through many systems, its paracrine expression as a soluble form by mammalian cells represents a difficult task. In the present paper two fragments of VP2 have been expressed successfully into the medium of transiently transfected mammalian cells through a fusion peptides strategy. The crude conditioned medium containing the secreted peptide could be employed for immunodiagnostic assay development or vaccine purposes.