Advances in Antigenic Peptide-Based Vaccine and Neutralizing Antibodies against Viruses Causing Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

Abstract

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) commonly produces herpangina, but fatal neurological complications have been observed in children. Enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) and Coxsackievirus 16 (CV-A16) are the predominant viruses causing HFMD worldwide. With rising concern about HFMD outbreaks, there is a need for an effective vaccine against EV-A71 and CV-A16. Although an inactivated vaccine has been developed against EV-A71 in China, the inability of the inactivated vaccine to confer protection against CV-A16 infection and other HFMD etiological agents, such as CV-A6 and CV-A10, necessitates the exploration of other vaccine platforms. Thus, the antigenic peptide-based vaccines are promising platforms to develop safe and efficacious multivalent vaccines, while the monoclonal antibodies are viable therapeutic and prophylactic agents against HFMD etiological agents. This article reviews the available information related to the antigenic peptides of the etiological agents of HFMD and their neutralizing antibodies that can provide a basis for the design of future therapies against HFMD etiological agents.

Peptides, Antibodies, Peptide Antibodies and More

“…Despite obvious potential, peptide vaccines or peptide Abs have not yet made it into clinical therapeutic use. One of the first descriptions of peptide Abs was on hand foot and mouth (HFM) virus [124] and efforts are still ongoing to develop peptide-based vaccines targeting the many different enteroviruses capable of causing HFM disease, as described by Anasir and Poh in this issue [144].…”

In silico Evolutionary Divergence Analysis Suggests the Potentiality of Capsid Protein VP2 in Serotype-Independent Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Detection

“…The antigenicity value calculation determined four sites to have a higher antigenicity value than the preset threshold. The sites are DKKTEETTLLEDRI (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), STTQSSVGVTYGY (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36), TSGLETRV (48-55), and NQFNGGCLLVA (114-124) ( Table 2). The sites were found to have surface exposure and a functionally active structural configuration (Figure 2A), indicating their possible interaction with the immune cells.…”

“…This information can be used for selecting the most conserved one for the future development of a more reliable diagnostic tool that will be capable of detecting FMDV regardless of its serotypes. Among the three surface-exposed capsid proteins of FMDV (VP1-3), VP2 is reported to be relatively conserved (10) and to also possess potential immunogenic sites capable of eliciting the development of anti-VP2 antibody upon infection (13). That is why VP2-based evolutionary divergence of FMDV has been investigated in the current study and has been compared with VP1-based divergence at multiple taxonomic hierarchies (serotypes, topotypes, lineages, and sub-lineages).…”

From Monovalent to Multivalent Vaccines, the Exploration for Potential Preventive Strategies Against Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD)

“…VP2 and VP3 proteins harbor fewer neutralizing epitopes compared to VP1, despite structural similarity. Among the common HFMD-related enteroviruses, EV-A71 and CV-A16 show high conservation in capsid proteins, with approximately 80% sequence identity, and their neutralizing epitopes are largely overlapped (Anasir and Poh 2019 ).…”