Infectious bursal disease subviral particles displaying the foot-and-mouth disease virus major antigenic site

An antigen delivery system based on subviral particles formed by the self-assembly of the capsid protein of infectious bursal disease virus and carrying foreign peptides at the top of the projection domain was investigated. We report here the effective insertion of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) immunodominant epitope in one of the four external loops of the subviral particles. Out of the two loops tested, one of them tolerated an insert of 12 amino acids without disrupting the subviral particle assembly. The subviral particles reacted with neutralizing FMDV type O1 monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and elicited a neutralizing antibody response in immunized mice. Furthermore, we found that they have the potential for the detection of FMDV antibodies in a competitive ELISA for diagnostic.