Immune response in mice inoculated with plasmid DNAs containing multiple-epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus.

This paper focuses on the development of candidate DNA vaccine encoding antigenic epitopes of type O foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). A series of plasmids encoding different combinations of B cell epitopes and a T cell epitope were constructed and characterized by inoculating BALB/c mice. The specific antibodies were only detectable in the mice inoculated with plasmids encoding the T cell epitope and B cell epitopes from sites 5 and 1, within which site 5 includes residues 135-167 of VP1 and site 1 includes 141-160 region (G-H loop) and carboxyl terminus of VP1. Stronger cellular immune responses were also observed in these mice using T cell proliferation assay.