Enterovirus （EV71） can cause severe neurological diseases, but the underlying pathogenesis remains unclear. The capsid protein, viral protein 1 （VP1）, plays a critical role in the pathogenicity of EVT1. High level expression and secretion ofVP 1 protein are necessary for structure, function and immunogenicity in its natural conformation. In our previous studies, 5 codon-optimized VP 1 DNA vaccines, including wt-VP 1, tPA-VP 1, VP l-d, VP 1-hFc and VP 1 - mFc, were constructed and analyzed. They expressed VP1 protein, but the levels of secretion and immunogenicity of these VP1 constructs were significantly different （P〈0.05）. In this study, we further investigated the protein lev- els of these constructs and determined that all of these constructs expressed VP1 protein. The secretion level was increased by including a tPA leader sequence, which was further increased by fusing human IgG Fc （hFc） to VP1. VP 1-hFc demonstrated the most potent immunogenicity in mice. Furthermore, hFc domain could be used to purify VPI-hFc protein for additional studies.
