Merck + Co., Inc.

Arthur Friedman

William J McAleer

Edward M Scolnick

E Dale Lehman

D Eugene Wampler

Ted F Schaefer

The surface antigen protein of human Hepatitis B virus is synthesized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a 23,000-26,000 dalton polypeptide, essentially free of intermolecular disulfide bonds. This antigen is a poor immunogen in animals and man. No prior precedent or method exists for efficiently converting the non-disulfide bonded antigen to a fully intermolecular disulfide bonded particle. We describe the first example of such a conversion in vitro and show that the act of this conversion enhances the immunogenicity of the antigen about 10-fold. The in vitro conversion makes practical the production of hepatitis B surface antigen from microorganisms using recombinant DNA methods.

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Churchville, PA, United States of America

Arthur Friedman