Establishment of Indirect ELISA Diagnosis Technique based on the VP1 Protein of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus Serotype A

The VP1 protein of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A was prokaryotically expressed and purified to replace the traditional virus antigen for estab- lishing a fast, safe, effective indirect ELISA method, so as to detecting antibody of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype A. Western-Blot test showed that the VP1 recombinant protein could be used as detective antigen as it can be specifically recognized by bovine positive serum of FMDV serotype A. By employing matrix titra- tion method, the optimal parameters were obtained as follows： 1 mg/L VP1 protein as coating antigen, Vserum：Vblocking solution = 1：50 dilution for serum and Vsecondary enzyme-linked antibedies：Vblocking solution ---1：2 000 for enzyme combined antibodies. The results showod that the sensitivity and specificity of this method were 94.32% and 99.09% respectively, the coefficients of variations in intra-assay and inter-assay reproducibility tests was lower than 8%. Compared with liquid phase blocking ELISA kits, the agreement of 201 serum samples reached 92.54%. The VP1-ELISA method established here is specific, sensitive, stable and simple, which can be used to monitor the antibody level of FMD serotype A.

Spatial Trend of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) Serotypes in Cattle and Buffaloes, Pakistan

The present study describes the frequency of Foot and Mouth Disease （FMD） virus serotypes （O, A and Asia-l） in major regions （all provinces） of Pakistan using Indirect Sandwich ELISA. Also, spatial distribution of various FMD serotypes and their comparison is discussed. A total of 590 samples （Epithelial tissue） have been analyzed during a period of five years （2005-2009）. Out of 590 samples, 180 were found positive, giving an overall confirmation of FMDV about 33.2 %. Of the prevalent serotypes, FMDV ＇O＇ serotype caused most outbreaks （20.7 %）, followed by serotype A （6.6 %） and serotype Asia-1 （4.6 %） while there was no positive case of type ＇C＇. The study clearly showed that the disease was more frequent in the agro-climatic zones than in hilly areas. Based on the data of 590 samples （〉50 outbreaks）, the overall prevalence of FMDV in cattle and buffaloes in Pakistan was 33.2 %, while in cattle alone, it was 37.1%, higher than in buffalo （28.7 %）. There were eight cases of mixed serotypes infection, indicating the presence of endemic state of disease. Another significant feature was the change over time. In phase-I （2005-2007）, there was an overall prevalence of 29.4 %, while the occurrence of the serotype O, A and Asia-1 was 20.4 %, 2.9 % and 4.7 %, respectively. During phase-II （2008-2009）, the overall prevalence was 59.21%, while those of serotype O, A and Asia-1 were 22.4 %, 31.6 % and 4.0 %, respectively. This clearly indicated a shift from serotype O to A, which may help to explain the occurrence of more severe outbreaks, despite vaccination.

Development of a Synthetic Peptide ELISA Assay for the Detection of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Nonstructural Protein Antibodies

In order to develop an ELISA assay with synthetic peptides for the detection of antibody to the nonstructural proteins of foot-and-mouth disease virus, specific peptides were synthesized by a solid-phase method according to FMDV NSPs B-cell epitopes, and were conjugated to carrier protein BSA. An ELISA system was developed to detect FMDV NSPs antibody with the conjugated proteins as the coating antigen. The optimal coating concentration of the antigen was determined as 2.5 μg mL-1. The comparative study of this assay with UBI NSP ELISA kit and national commercial 3ABC ELISA kit in the detection of 199 serum samples showed that they were very coincident, and the identity rates were 96.48 and 97.48%, respectively. The development of ELISA using the synthetic peptides as coating antigen is specific, reproducible, stable, and easy, and can be used to differentiate FMDV infected pigs from immunized pigs.

Molecular Design and Immunogenicity of a Multiple-epitope FMDV Antigen and DNA Vaccination

This article reports the design and construction of a multiple-epitope foot and mouth disease virus （FMDV） antigen, designated as OAAT. This recombinant antigen consists of the structural protein VP1 genes from serotypes A and O FMDV, five major VP1 immunodominant epitopes from two genotypes of Asial serotype, and three Th2 epitopes originating from the nonstructural protein, three ABC gene and structural protein VP4 gene. Expressions of target gene from these plasmids in HeLa cells were verified by Western-blot. BALB/c mice were immunized intramuscularly with the DNA vaccines thrice every two weeks. We found that pA could induce simultaneously specific antibodies against serotypes A, Asial, and O FMDV. Compared to those of the controls, the spots of FMDV-specific IFN-7 and cytotoxic activity from mice immunized with pA were significantly increased, pA provided full protection in 2/4 guinea pigs from challenge with FMDV O/NY00 and Asial/YNBS/58, respectively. The results show that although pA did not give full protection in 100% immunized guinea pigs from challenge with type O and Asial FMDV, respectively, OAAT may be potential immunogen against FMDV and pA may be potential DNA vaccines against FMDV.