Ruiz Vanesa, Baztarrica Josefina, Rybicki Edward P, Meyers Ann E, Wigdorovitz Andrés
Instituto de Virología, CICVyA, INTA, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Biotechnol Rep (Amst). 2018 Sep 28;20:e00283. doi: 10.1016/j.btre.2018.e00283. eCollection 2018 Dec.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) remains one of the most feared viral diseases affecting cloven-hoofed animals, and results in severe economic losses. Currently available vaccines are based on inactivated FMD virus (FMDV). The use of recombinant FMDV-like particles (VLPs) as subunit vaccines has gained importance because of their immunogenic properties and safety. We evaluated the production of FMD VLPs, via Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression, and the immunogenicity of these structures in mice. Leaves were infiltrated with pEAQ-HT and pRIC 3.0 vectors encoding the capsid precursor P1-2A and the protease 3C. The recombinant protein yield was 3-4 mg/kg of fresh leaf tissue. Both groups of mice immunized with purified VLPs and mice immunized with the crude leaf extract elicited a specific humoral response with similar antibody titers. Thus, minimally processed plant material containing transiently expressed FMD VLPs could be a scalable and cost-effective technology for the production of a recombinant subunit vaccine against FMDV.
口蹄疫（FMD）仍然是影响偶蹄动物的最可怕的病毒性疾病之一，并会导致严重的经济损失。目前可用的疫苗是基于灭活的口蹄疫病毒（FMDV）。由于其免疫原性和安全性，使用重组口蹄疫病毒样颗粒（VLPs）作为亚单位疫苗变得越来越重要。我们评估了通过农杆菌介导的瞬时表达生产口蹄疫VLPs，以及这些结构在小鼠中的免疫原性。用编码衣壳前体P1-2A和蛋白酶3C的pEAQ-HT和pRIC 3.0载体浸润叶片。重组蛋白产量为每千克新鲜叶片组织3-4毫克。用纯化的VLPs免疫的两组小鼠和用粗叶提取物免疫的小鼠都引发了具有相似抗体滴度的特异性体液反应。因此，含有瞬时表达的口蹄疫VLPs的最少加工植物材料可能是一种用于生产抗口蹄疫病毒重组亚单位疫苗的可扩展且具有成本效益的技术。
