FMD empty capsids combined with the Immunostimulant Particle Adjuvant -ISPA or ISA206 induce protective immunity against Foot and Mouth Disease Virus

BIDART, J.; MIGNAQUI, A.; KORNUTA, C.; LUPI, G.; GAMMELLA, M.; SORIA, I.; GALARZA, R.; FERELLA, A.; CARDILLO, S.; LANGELLOTTI, C.; QUATTROCCHI, V.; DUROCHER, Y.; WIGDOROVITZ, A.; MARCIPAR, I.; ZAMORANO, P.

VIRUS RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2021

0168-1702

Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) causes important economy losses and is controlled by vaccination in many countries. The use of Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) for subunit FMD vaccines avoids the biological hazard of using infectious FMDV in vaccine production. Vaccines with new low-cost adjuvants that stimulate protective immune responses are needed. One such adjuvant is ISPA (Immunostimulant-Particle Adjuvant), an Immune Stimulating Complex (ISCOM) - type adjuvant formulated with dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, stearylamine, alpha tocopherol and QuilA. We have evaluated the immune response against FMDV using VLPs and ISPA or ISA 206 adjuvant (ISA 206) as adjuvants. VLPs (strain A/Argentina/2001) were obtained by transient gene expression in mammalian cell cultures, and a previously developed murine model, able to predict the ability of a vaccine to induce protection in cattle, was used for experiments as a first approach. The VLPs-ISPA and VLPs-ISA 206 vaccines induced protection against viral challenge in 100% of vaccinated mice while protection with VLPs alone was 40% of mice. Specific FMDV antibody titers, measured by ELISA and neutralization test, were significantly higher in the VLPs-ISPA and VLPs-ISA 206 group as compared to the VLPs group. Isotype profiles showed that the VLPs-ISPA group achieved significantly higher (p