Abstract

For mass production of human epidermal growth factor (hEGF), silkworm baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) was adopted in this study. hEGF gene was in-frame fused with polyhedrin (Ph) gene under the control of Ph promoter and was used to co-transfect BmN cell with the modified Bombyx moribaculovirus DNA to obtained recombinant virus. The ELISA showed a maximum expression on day 4 in larvae and pupae. Both cellular extracts and haemolymph of silkworm larvae infected with rBacPh-EGF could all support the proliferation of Balb/c 3T3 cell. The corresponding materials from BmN cell and silkworm larvae infected with wild virus also indicated a weak effect of up-regulation on 3T3 cells proliferation. The animal study showed that both pupae infected with rBacPh-EGF virus and wild virus protected the gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced damage in rats, although the protection from pupae infected with wild virus was slightly weak. The mechanism is under investigating.

Key words: Human epidermal growth factor, fusion protein, baculovirus expression vector system.