title: Foot-and-mouth disease virus-like particles produced by a SUMO fusion protein system in Escherichia coli induce potent protective immune responses in guinea pigs, swine and cattle.
abstract: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes a highly contagious infection in cloven-hoofed animals. The format of FMD virus-like particles (VLP) as a non-replicating particulate vaccine candidate is a promising alternative to conventional inactivated FMDV vaccines. In this study, we explored a prokaryotic system to express and assemble the FMD VLP and validated the potential of VLP as an FMDV vaccine candidate. VLP composed entirely of FMDV (Asia1/Jiangsu/China/2005) capsid proteins (VP0, VP1 and VP3) were simultaneously produced as SUMO fusion proteins by an improved SUMO fusion protein system in E. coli. Proteolytic removal of the SUMO moiety from the fusion proteins resulted in the assembly of VLP with size and shape resembling the authentic FMDV. Immunization of guinea pigs, swine and cattle with FMD VLP by intramuscular inoculation stimulated the FMDV-specific antibody response, neutralizing antibody response, T-cell proliferation response and secretion of cytokine IFN-γ. In addition, immunization with one dose of the VLP resulted in complete protection of these animals from homologous FMDV challenge. The 50% protection dose (PD50) of FMD VLP in cattle is up to 6.34. These results suggest that FMD VLP expressed in E. coli are an effective vaccine in guinea pigs, swine and cattle and support further development of these VLP as a vaccine candidate for protection against FMDV.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, National Foot and Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xujiaping 1, Lanzhou, Gansu 730046, China. shiqisun21@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Hui-Chen
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Shi-Qi
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Shun-Li
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yan-Quan
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: De-Hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shuang-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Jun-Wu
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Zai-Xin
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jian-Hong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jian-Xun
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Xiang-Tao
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ding Xiang
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D002417:Cattle / Q000276:immunology*; D004926:Escherichia coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006168:Guinea Pigs / Q000276:immunology*; D025842:SUMO-1 Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine / Q000276:immunology*; D058425:Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D025842:SUMO-1 Protein; D058425:Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle; D014765:Viral Vaccines