Chimeric Virus-like Particles of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Virus as Carriers for B-cell Epitopes of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

摘要

In order to obtain the virus-like particles (VLPs)of rabbit hemorrhagic virus (RHDV)displaying B-cell epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV),the genes of two FMDV B-cell epitopes were fused to the N-terminal.C-terminal and inserted between 306 and 307 aa of the capsid protein.The fused genes were cloned into the donor vector pFastBac7M HT A and recombinant baculoviruses were constructed using Bac-to-Bac baculovirus expression system.Six recomhinant proteins were expressed effectively in insect cells and confirmed by IFA,SDS-PAGE and Western hlot.The immunogenicity of all chimeric VLPs was examined in mice.The results indicated the recombinant proteins could react with both anti-VP60 monoclonal antibody and anti-FMDV polyclonal antibody and could self-assemble into VLPs by Electron microscopy analysis.All chimeric VLPs were able to induce strong VP60-specific and moderate peptide-specific humoral immune responses in the absence of any adjuvants.A moderate level of serum antibody titers detected against B-cell epitopes of FMDV demonstrated the feasibility of RHDV-VLP serving as a presentation carrier for foreign B-cell epitopes.