Frontiers in Veterinary Science (Feb 2021)

The High Immunity Induced by the Virus-Like Particles of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype O

  • Yan Xiao,
  • Yan Xiao,
  • Suling Zhang,
  • He Yan,
  • Xiaolin Geng,
  • Yanwei Wang,
  • Xin Xu,
  • Mengyue Wang,
  • Haohao Zhang,
  • Baicheng Huang,
  • Wenqiang Pang,
  • Ming Yang,
  • Kegong Tian,
  • Kegong Tian

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.633706
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), caused by FMD virus (FMDV), is a highly contagious and economically devastating viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals worldwide. In this study, the coexpression of small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)–fused capsid proteins of FMDV serotype O by single plasmid in Escherichia coli was achieved with an optimal tandem permutation (VP0–VP3–VP1), showing a protein yield close to 1:1:1. After SUMO removal at a low level of protease activity (5 units), the assembled FMDV virus-like particles (VLPs) could expose multiple epitopes and have a size similar to the naive FMDV. Immunization of pigs with the FMDV VLPs could induce FMDV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses effectively, in a dose-dependent manner. These data suggested that the stable FMDV VLPs with multiple epitope exposure were effective for the induction of an immune response in pigs, which laid a foundation for the further development of the FMDV subunit vaccine.

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