Immunogenic polypeptides comprising a scaffold polypeptide and a l2 polypeptide or a fragment thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to an immunogenic polypeptide comprising a) a scaffold polypeptide, and b) a L2 polypeptide or a fragment of said L2 polypeptide, wherein said scaffold polypeptide constrains the structure of said L2 polypeptide, or of a fragment of said L2 polypeptide. Moreover, the present invention relates to a vaccine comprising said immunogenic polypeptide. The present invention is also concerned with a method for producing an antibody against human papillomavirus. Also encompassed by the present invention is an antibody obtained by carrying out the said method.

1 . An immunogenic polypeptide comprising
 a) a scaffold polypeptide, and   b) a L2 polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO:1, or a fragment thereof, wherein said scaffold polypeptide constrains the structure of said L2 polypeptide, or of said fragment of said L2 polypeptide.   
     
     
         2 . The immunogenic polypeptide of  claim 1 , wherein the scaffold polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of thioredoxin polypeptides, thioredoxin polypeptides derived from thermophile bacteria, capsid polypeptides of adeno-associated viruses, the tenth type III module of fibronectin (FN3), lipocalins, a catalytically inactive version of  Staphylococcus  nuclease, alpha-amylase inhibitors, and stefin A. 
     
     
         3 . The immunogenic polypeptide of  claim 1 , wherein the scaffold polypeptide is a thioredoxin polypeptide selected from the group consisting of:
 a) a polypeptide having a sequence as shown in SEQ ID No: 24, SEQ ID No: 25, SEQ ID No: 26, SEQ ID No: 27, or SEQ ID No: 28, and   b) a variant polypeptide having a sequence at least 70% identical to the sequence shown in SEQ ID No: 24, SEQ ID No: 25, SEQ ID No: 26, SEQ ID No: 27, or SEQ ID No: 28,   wherein said polypeptide constrains the structure of the L2 polypeptide, or which constrains the structure of a fragment of said L2 polypeptide.   
     
     
         4 . The immunogenic polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein the fragment or variant of the fragment of the L2 polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 31 and 32. 
     
     
         5 . The immunogenic polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein the fragment of the L2 polypeptide has a sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO:2. 
     
     
         6 . The immunogenic polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein the polypeptide comprises a multimer of said fragment. 
     
     
         7 . The immunogenic polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein the immunogenic polypeptide has a sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 29 or 30. 
     
     
         8 . A polynucleotide encoding the immunogenic polypeptide according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 - 16 . (canceled)