Agradecimentos: We thank Daniela Santoro Rosa from the Laboratory of Experimental Vaccines (LaVEx), Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, Brazil, for donating the plasmid encoding the rEZIKV. This work was supported by grants from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq Grant ID 130843/2020-2 to H.H.M.d.C., and 440812/2016-0 to C.R.P.), Ministry of Health, Special Health Fund for Mass Immunization and Disease Control of the State Department of Health of the State of São Paulo (FESIMA), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES Grant ID 88887.703323/2022-00 to H.H.M.d.C., and 88881.130804/2016–01 to C.R.P.), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP Grant ID 2022/07256-0 to D.J.B.O., and 2021/11936-3, 2017/50333-7 to C.R.P.) Ver menos

Abstract: The Zika Virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus of great public health concern, particularly in the Americas after its last outbreak in 2015. There are still major challenges regarding disease control, and there is no ZIKV vaccine currently approved for human use. Among many different vaccine platforms currently under study, the recombinant envelope protein from Zika Virus (rEZIKV) constitutes an alternative option for vaccine development and has great potential for monitoring ZIKV infection and antibody response. This study describes a method to obtain a bioactive and functional rEZIKV using an E. coli expression system, with the aid of a 5-L airlift bioreactor and following an automated fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) protocol, capable of obtaining high yields of approximately 20 mg of recombinant protein per liter of bacterium cultures. The purified rEZIKV presented preserved antigenicity and immunogenicity. Our results show that the use of an airlift bioreactor for the production of rEZIKV is ideal for establishing protocols and further research on ZIKV vaccines bioprocess, representing a promising system for the production of a ZIKV envelope recombinant protein-based vaccine candidate Ver menos