Antigenic comparison of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotypes with monoclonal antibodies.

The capsid structures of the 7 serotypes of foot-and-mouth disease virus have been compared utilizing a series of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies which were previously shown to recognize at least 4 distinct epitopes on type A12 virus. A radioimmune binding assay using radioactively labeled antigens and the monoclonal antibodies revealed that certain conformation dependent epitopes are conserved among A subtypes, while some continuous epitopes are conserved among A subtypes as well as other FMDV serotypes. On the basis of differential reactivity among other FMDV subtypes and serotypes two additional epitopes have been defined on the A12 particle. Binding and neutralization assays revealed that the presence and function of an epitope are not necessarily correlated.