title: A large-scale evaluation of peptide vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease: lack of solid protection in cattle and isolation of escape mutants.
abstract: A large-scale vaccination experiment involving a total of 138 cattle was carried out to evaluate the potential of synthetic peptides as vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease. Four types of peptides representing sequences of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) C3 Argentina 85 were tested: A, which includes the G-H loop of capsid protein VP1 (site A); AT, in which a T-cell epitope has been added to site A; AC, composed of site A and the carboxy-terminal region of VP1 (site C); and ACT, in which the three previous capsid motifs are colinearly represented. Induction of neutralizing antibodies, lymphoproliferation in response to viral antigens, and protection against challenge with homologous infectious virus were examined. None of the tested peptides, at several doses and vaccination schedules, afforded protection above 40%. Protection showed limited correlation with serum neutralization activity and lymphoproliferation in response to whole virus. In 12 of 29 lesions from vaccinated cattle that were challenged with homologous virus, mutant FMDVs with amino acid substitutions at antigenic site A were identified. This finding suggests the rapid generation and selection of FMDV antigenic variants in vivo. In contrast with previous studies, this large-scale vaccination experiment with an important FMDV host reveals considerable difficulties for vaccines based on synthetic peptides to achieve the required levels of efficacy. Possible modifications of the vaccine formulations to increase protective activity are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias Veterinarias, INTA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Taboga
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tami
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carrillo
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Núñez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Saíz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Valero
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Roig
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Camarero
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Andreu
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Mateu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giralt
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domingo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sobrino
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Palma
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D005537:Aphthovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D002213:Capsid / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002460:Cell Line; D006224:Cricetinae; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014611:Vaccination; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D010455:Peptides; C442501:VP1 protein, Foot-and-mouth disease virus; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines