College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China.
State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, College of Veterinary Medicine, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
BMC Vet Res. 2024 Jul 6;20(1):301. doi: 10.1186/s12917-024-04159-9.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a devastating disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, that leads to significant economic losses in affected countries and regions. Currently, there is an evident inclination towards the utilization of nanoparticles as powerful platforms for innovative vaccine development. Therefore, this study developed a ferritin-based nanoparticle (FNP) vaccine that displays a neutralizing epitope of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) VP1 (aa 140-158) on the surface of FNP, and evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of these FNPs in mouse and guinea pig models to provide a strategy for developing potential FMD vaccines.
This study expressed the recombinant proteins Hpf, HPF-NE and HPF-T34E via an E. coli expression system. The results showed that the recombinant proteins Hpf, Hpf-NE and Hpf-T34E could be effectively assembled into nanoparticles. Subsequently, we evaluated the immunogenicity of the Hpf, Hpf-NE and Hpf-T34E proteins in mice, as well as the immunogenicity and protectiveness of the Hpf-T34E protein in guinea pigs. The results of the mouse experiment showed that the immune efficacy in the Hpf-T34E group was greater than the Hpf-NE group. The results from guinea pigs immunized with Hpf-T34E showed that the immune efficacy was largely consistent with the immunogenicity of the FMD inactivated vaccine (IV) and could confer partial protection against FMDV challenge in guinea pigs.
The Hpf-T34E nanoparticles stand out as a superior choice for a subunit vaccine candidate against FMD, offering effective protection in FMDV-infected model animals. FNP-based vaccines exhibit excellent safety and immunogenicity, thus representing a promising strategy for the continued development of highly efficient and safe FMD vaccines.
口蹄疫（FMD）是一种严重影响偶蹄动物的疾病，会给受影响的国家和地区带来重大经济损失。目前，纳米粒子作为创新疫苗开发的强大平台的应用趋势明显。因此，本研究开发了一种基于铁蛋白的纳米颗粒（FNP）疫苗，该疫苗在 FNP 表面展示了口蹄疫病毒（FMDV）VP1（aa 140-158）的中和表位，评估了这些 FNPs 在小鼠和豚鼠模型中的免疫原性和保护效力，为开发潜在的 FMD 疫苗提供了一种策略。
本研究通过大肠杆菌表达系统表达了重组蛋白 Hpf、HPF-NE 和 HPF-T34E。结果表明，重组蛋白 Hpf、Hpf-NE 和 Hpf-T34E 可以有效地组装成纳米颗粒。随后，我们评估了 Hpf、Hpf-NE 和 Hpf-T34E 蛋白在小鼠中的免疫原性，以及 Hpf-T34E 蛋白在豚鼠中的免疫原性和保护效力。小鼠实验结果表明，Hpf-T34E 组的免疫效果大于 Hpf-NE 组。用 Hpf-T34E 免疫的豚鼠的结果表明，免疫效果与口蹄疫灭活疫苗（IV）的免疫原性基本一致，可对豚鼠的 FMDV 攻毒提供部分保护。
Hpf-T34E 纳米颗粒作为 FMD 亚单位疫苗候选物具有优势，可有效保护 FMDV 感染的模型动物。基于 FNP 的疫苗具有良好的安全性和免疫原性，因此代表了继续开发高效、安全的 FMD 疫苗的有前途的策略。
