Development of swine Fc-conjugated serotype O foot-and-mouth disease virus-like particles and immunological evaluation in swine

Abstract The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has been declining as a result of efforts by many advanced countries to eradicate it. However, new vaccine types are being developed because FMD is still a problem in several countries, and vaccinations have safety concerns. In this study, we developed a new FMD vaccine using virus-like particles (VLPs) harboring the immunoglobulin G Fc molecule on their surface. Based on the results of vaccination studies in swine, we confirmed its high efficacy. In particular, we confirmed strong immune boosting by the addition of the swine IgG (sFc) region. The FMDV VLP-sFc vaccine produced higher amounts of Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-12, and TNF) and Th2 cytokines (IL-4) than the commercial vaccine. More importantly, FMDV VLP-sFc induced significantly higher levels of neutralizing antibodies. Taken together, our newly developed FMDV vaccine, FMDV VLP-sFc, may be a great new and effective FMDV vaccine.