Novel recombinant chimeric virus-like particle is immunogenic and protective against both enterovirus 71 and coxsackievirus A16 in mice

Sci Rep. 2015 Jan 19:5:7878. doi: 10.1038/srep07878.

Abstract

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) has been recognized as an important global public health issue, which is predominantly caused by enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16). There is no available vaccine against HFMD. An ideal HFMD vaccine should be bivalent against both EV-A71 and CVA16. Here, a novel strategy to produce bivalent HFMD vaccine based on chimeric EV-A71 virus-like particles (ChiEV-A71 VLPs) was proposed and illustrated. The neutralizing epitope SP70 within the capsid protein VP1 of EV-A71 was replaced with that of CVA16 in ChiEV-A71 VLPs. Structural modeling revealed that the replaced CVA16-SP70 epitope is well exposed on the surface of ChiEV-A71 VLPs. These VLPs produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae exhibited similarity in both protein composition and morphology as naive EV-A71 VLPs. Immunization with ChiEV-A71 VLPs in mice elicited robust Th1/Th2 dependent immune responses against EV-A71 and CVA16. Furthermore, passive immunization with anti-ChiEV-A71 VLPs sera conferred full protection against lethal challenge of both EV-A71 and CVA16 infection in neonatal mice. These results suggested that this chimeric vaccine, ChiEV-A71 might have the potential to be further developed as a bivalent HFMD vaccine in the near future. Such chimeric enterovirus VLPs provide an alternative platform for bivalent HFMD vaccine development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / administration & dosage
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / immunology*
  • Enterovirus / immunology
  • Enterovirus / pathogenicity
  • Enterovirus A, Human / immunology
  • Enterovirus A, Human / pathogenicity
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease / immunology*
  • Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease / prevention & control*
  • Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease / virology
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Vaccination
  • Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle / immunology*
  • Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Epitopes
  • Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle