designing the fusion protein of rotavirus vp8 and hepatitis a virus vp1 and evaluating the immunological response in balb/c mice

Background and objectives: rotavirus and hepatitis a virus are responsible for causing gastroenteritis and jaundice. the current vaccination approaches have proven insufficient, especially in low-income countries. in this study, we presented a novel dual-vaccine candidate that combines the rotavirus vp8 protein and the hepatitis a virus vp1.materials and methods: the vp8*-rotavirus+aay+hav-vp1 fusion protein was produced using an escherichia coli expression system. the recombinant protein had a molecular weight of approximately 45.5 kda and was purified through affinity chromatography. balb/c mice were injected subcutaneously with the recombinant protein, vp1, vp8 and vaccines for rotavirus and hepatitis a virus, both with and without alum and m720 adjuvants. elisa assays were used to measure total igg, igg1, igg2, and short-term and long-term il-5 and ifn-γ responses.results: the fusion protein, when combined with adjuvants, elicited significantly higher total igg, igg1, and igg2 responses compared to vp1 and vp8 alone, as well as the rotavirus and hepatitis a vaccines. furthermore, it induced a higher short-term il-5 and ifn-γ response while demonstrating a higher long-term il-5 response compared to the rotavirus and hepatitis a vaccines.conclusion: this study demonstrates that the vp8*-rotavirus+aay+hav-vp1 fusion protein is a promising dual vaccine candidate for immunization against hepatitis a and rotaviruses.