Patent ID: 7732166

Claim:
A method of making a composition comprising a recombinant HPV protein selected from the group consisting of a papillomavirus E6 gene product, a papillomavirus E7 gene product, a papillomavirus L1 gene product, and a papillomavirus L2 gene product, comprising the steps of: providing a recombinant construct encoding a fusion protein comprising said papillomavirus gene product and an affinity tag selected from the group consisting of a HIS tag, a GST tag, and an MBP tag, wherein said construct does not encode a chaperone; expressing said recombinant construct in a host cell; incubating an extract prepared from said host cell with an affinity resin under conditions in which said affinity resin specifically binds said affinity tag; and eluting said recombinant HPV protein from said affinity resin, wherein said expressing of said recombinant construct in said host cell results in a level of protein expression such that said eluting produces a composition comprising said recombinant HPV protein at a concentration of from 1 mg/L to 10 mg/L, wherein said recombinant HPV protein is present in said composition at a purity of at least 90% as determined by SDS PAGE, and wherein said recombinant HPV protein is present in said composition in a substantially soluble, monomeric form, as determined by size-exclusion chromatography.