Synthesis and characterization of antigenic influenza A M2e protein peptide-poly(acrylic) acid bioconjugate and determination of toxicity in vitro.

The influenza A virus is a critical public health problem that causes epidemics and pandemics, and occurs widely all over the world. Various vaccines against the virus have not provided a solution to the problem. Different approaches, particularly M2e peptide-based vaccines, are available for developing universal vaccines against influenza A. However, it is important to select a suitable carrier to obtain an effective vaccine. Accordingly, studies on the usage of various carriers are ongoing. Particularly, polymer-based carriers have gained importance due to both drug delivery and adjuvant effects. Therefore, bioconjugate of the M2e protein peptide from the influenza A virus covalent bonded with poly(acrylic) acid was synthesized in our study for the first time. The characterization was performed using size-exclusion chromatography and fluorescence spectroscopy; subsequently, it was found that the bioconjugate of the examined lower doses (0.05 and 0.5 mg/ml) have no toxic effects on human cell lines. These results suggest that, in the future, the poly(acrylic) acid bioconjugate of the M2e peptide should be studied in vivo for universal vaccine development against the influenza A virus.