Development of a chemiluminescence immunoassay using recombinant non-structural epitope-based proteins to accurately differentiate foot-and-mouth disease virus-infected and vaccinated bovines

Development of a fully automated chemiluminescent immunoassay for the quantitative and qualitative detection of antibodies against African swine fever virus p72

African swine fever (ASF), caused by ASF virus (ASFV), is a highly infectious and severe hemorrhagic disease of pigs that causes major economic losses. Currently, no commercial vaccine is available and prevention and control of ASF relies mainly on early diagnosis. Here, a novel automated double antigen sandwich chemiluminescent immunoassay (DAgS-aCLIA) was developed to detect antibodies against ASFV p72 (p72-Ab). For this purpose, recombinant p72 trimer was produced, coupled to magnetic particles as carriers and labeled with acridinium ester as a signal trace. Finally, p72-Ab can be sensitively and rapidly measured on an automated chemiluminescent instrument. For quantitative analysis, a calibration curve was established with a laudable linearity range of 0.21 to 212.0 ng/mL (R2 = 0.9910) and a lower detection limit of 0.15 ng/mL. For qualitative analysis, a cut-off value was set at 1.50 ng/mL with a diagnostic sensitivity of 100.00% and specificity of 98.33%. Furthermore, antibody response to an ASF gene-deleted vaccine candidate can be accurately quantified using this DAgS-aCLIA, as evidenced by early seroconversion as early as 7 days post-immunization and high antibody levels. Compared with available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, this DAgS-aCLIA demonstrated a wider linearity range of 4 to 16-fold, and excellent analytical sensitivity and agreement of over 95.60%. In conclusion, our proposed DAgS-aCLIA would be an effective tool to support ASF epidemiological surveillance.IMPORTANCEAfrican swine fever virus (ASFV) is highly contagious in wild boar and domestic pigs. There is currently no vaccine available for ASF, so serological testing is an important diagnostic tool. Traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays provide only qualitative results and are time and resource consuming. This study will develop an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) that can quantitatively and qualitatively detect antibodies to ASFV p72, greatly reducing detection time and labour-intensive operation, and improving detection sensitivity and linearity range. This novel CLIA would serve as a reliable and convenient tool for ASF pandemic surveillance and vaccine development.

Development of plate-type and tubular chemiluminescence immunoassay against African swine fever virus p72

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease that has caused huge economic losses to the pig and related industries worldwide. At present, rapid, accurate, and sensitive laboratory detection technologies are important means of preventing and controlling ASF. However, because attenuated strains of African swine fever virus (ASFV) are constantly emerging, an ASFV antibody could be used more effectively to investigate the virus and control the disease on pig farms. The isolation of ASFV-specific antibodies is also essential for the diagnosis of ASF. Therefore, in this study, we developed two chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs) to detect antibodies directed against ASFV p72: a traditional plate-type blocking CLIA (p72-CLIA) and an automatic tubular competitive CLIA based on magnetic particles (p72-MPCLIA). We compared the diagnostic performance of these two methods to provide a feasible new method for the effective prevention and control of ASF and the purification of ASFV. The cut-off value, diagnostic sensitivity (Dsn), and diagnostic specificity (Dsp) of p72-CLIA were 40%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively, in known background serum, whereas those of p72-MPCLIA were 36%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively. Thus, both methods show good Dsn, Dsp, and repeatability. However, when analytical sensitivity was evaluated, p72-MPCLIA was more sensitive than p72-CLIA or a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. More importantly, p72-MPCLIA reduced the detection time to 15 min and allowed fully automated detection. In summary, p72-MPCLIA showed superior diagnostic performance and offered a new tool for detecting ASFV infections in the future. KEY POINTS: • Two chemiluminescence immunoassay (plate-type CLIA and tubular CLIA) methods based on p72 monoclonal antibody (mAb) were developed to detect ASFV antibody. • Both methods show good diagnostic performance (Dsn (100%), Dsp (99.6%), and good repeatability), and p72-MPCLIA detects antibodies against ASFV p72 with high efficiency in just 15 min.

A recombinant multi-epitope trivalent vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype O in pigs

In order to develop a safe and effective broad-spectrum vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease (FMDV), here, we developed a recombinant FMD multiple-epitope trivalent vaccine based on three distinct topotypes of FMDV. Potency of the vaccine was evaluated by immune efficacy in pigs. The results showed that the vaccine with no less than 25 μg of antigen elicited FMDV serotype O specific antibodies and neutralization antibodies by primary-booster regime, and offered immune protection to pigs. More importantly, the vaccine elicited not only the same level of neutralization antibodies against the three distinct topotypes of FMDV, but also provided complete protection in pigs from the three corresponding virus challenge. None of the fully protected pigs were able to generate anti-3ABC antibodies throughout the experiment, which implied the vaccine can offer sterilizing immunity. The vaccine elicited lasting-long high-level antibodies and effectively protected pigs from virulent challenge within six months of immunization. Therefore, we consider that this vaccine may be used in the future for the prevention and control of FMD.

Development of a competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay using a monoclonal antibody recognizing 3B of foot-and-mouth disease virus for the rapid detection of antibodies induced by FMDV infection

Background

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a devastating animal disease. Anti-non-structural protein (NSP) antibody detection is very important for confirming suspected cases, evaluating the prevalence of infection, certifying animals for trade and controlling the disease.

Methods

In this study, a competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay (3B-cCLIA) was developed for the rapid detection of antibodies against NSPs in different species of livestock animals using the monoclonal antibody (mAb) 9E2 as a competitive antibody that recognizes NSP 3B.

Results

The cut-off value (50%), diagnostic sensitivity (Dsn) (97.20%, 95.71%, and 96.15%) and diagnostic specificity (Dsp) (99.51%, 99.43%, and 98.36) of the assay were estimated by testing a panel of known-background sera from swine, cattle and sheep, respectively. The accuracy rate of the 3B-cCLIA was further validated and subsequently compared with that of two commercial diagnostic kits. The early diagnostic results showed that antibodies recognizing NSPs developed later (approximately 1–2 days) than antibodies recognizing structural proteins. Furthermore, anti-NSP antibody presence in animals vaccinated multiple times (false positives), especially cattle and sheep, was confirmed, and the false-positive rate increased with the number of vaccinations.

Conclusions

These results indicate that the 3B-cCLIA is suitable for the rapid detection of antibodies against FMDV NSP 3B in a wide range of species.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12985-021-01663-4.

Development of a chemiluminescence immunoassay to accurately detect African swine fever virus antibodies in serum

The outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has caused significant economic losses to animal husbandry worldwide. Currently, there is no effective vaccine or treatment available to control the disease, and therefore, efficient disease control is dependent on early detection and diagnosis of ASF virus (ASFV). In this study, a chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) was developed using the ASFV protein p54 as a serum diagnostic antigen and an anti-p54 monoclonal antibody. After optimizing the working parameters of the CLIA, the sensitivity of the established CLIA was 1:128, ASFV-specific serum antibody was identified, and there was no cross-reaction with other swine virus antibodies. After testing 49 clinical serum samples, the consistency rate between the CLIA and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recommended commercial kit was 100 %. Thus, this CLIA had a high degree of specificity, sensitivity, and reliability, and could be used as a rapid detection method for epidemiological investigations of ASFV infection.

A chemiluminescence immunoassay for rapid detection of classical swine fever virus E2 antibodies in pig serum samples

The high performance of chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs) in diagnosis has been gradually recognized in recent years, but their application in the diagnosis of classical swine fever (CSF) has not been reported. Here, a recombinant E2 (rE2) protein and a peroxidase-conjugated monoclonal antibody (MAb G5) were used to develop a competition-based chemiluminescence immunoassay (cCLIA) for rapid and accurate detection of E2-specific antibodies in pig serum. To evaluate the feasibility of cCLIA in the diagnosis of CSF, we developed a competition-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) as a control. Under the optimum test conditions, cCLIA showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio than that of the control cELISA. The best signal-to-noise ratios of cCLIA and cELISA were 70 and 17, respectively. Then, the diagnostic performance of the two assays was compared by examining a panel of pig serum samples (n = 285) with a confirmed status, and cCLIA showed higher diagnostic sensitivity (Dn) and diagnostic specificity (Dp) values than those of cELISA. The Dn and Dp of cCLIA were 97.49% and 96.08%, respectively, and those of cELISA were 93.97% and 94.12%, respectively. Furthermore, cCLIA can provide results within 20 min, whereas the control cELISA requires at least 1 hr. According to these findings, the newly developed cCLIA has potential application in the diagnosis of CSF and offers an alternative approach for efficient and rapid detection of E2-specific antibodies.

Advances in the Diagnosis of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a devastating livestock disease caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). Outbreaks of this disease in a country always result in conspicuous economic losses to livestock industry and subsequently lead to serious socioeconomic damages due to the immediate imposition of trade embargo. Rapid and accurate diagnoses are imperative to control this infectious virus. In the current review, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based methods used in FMD diagnosis are extensively reviewed, particularly the sandwich, liquid-phase blocking, and solid-phase competition ELISA. The differentiation of infected animals from vaccinated animals using ELISA-based methods is also highlighted, in which the role of 3ABC polyprotein as a marker is reviewed intensively. Recently, more studies are focusing on the molecular diagnostic methods, which detect the viral nucleic acids based on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and RT-loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). These methods are generally more sensitive because of their ability to amplify a minute amount of the viral nucleic acids. In this digital era, the RT-PCR and RT-LAMP are progressing toward the mobile versions, aiming for on-site FMDV diagnosis. Apart from RT-PCR and RT-LAMP, another diagnostic assay specifically designed for on-site diagnosis is the lateral flow immunochromatographic test strips. These test strips have some distinct advantages over other diagnostic methods, whereby the assay often does not require the aid of an external device, which greatly lowers the cost per test. In addition, the on-site diagnostic test can be easily performed by untrained personnel including farmers, and the results can be obtained in a few minutes. Lastly, the use of FMDV diagnostic assays for progressive control of the disease is also discussed critically.

Epitope-Containing Short Peptides Capture Distinct IgG Serodynamics That Enable Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals for Live-Attenuated Vaccines

Differentiating infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) strategies have been central enabling techniques in several successful viral disease elimination programs. However, owing to their long and uncertain development process, no DIVA-compatible vaccines are available for many important diseases. We report herein a new DIVA strategy based on hybrid protein-peptide microarrays which can theoretically work with any vaccine. Leading from our findings from peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus, we found 4 epitope-containing short peptides (ECSPs) which have distinct IgG serodynamics: anti-ECSP IgGs only exist for 10 to 60 days postvaccination (dpv), while anti-protein IgGs remained at high levels for >1,000 dpv. These data enabled the design of a DIVA diagnostic microarray containing 4 ECSPs and 3 proteins, which, unlike competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) and virus neutralization tests (VNTs), enables ongoing monitoring of serological differences between vaccinated individuals and individuals exposed to the pathogen. For 25 goats after 60 dpv, 13 were detected with positive anti-ECSP IgGs, indicating recent infections in vaccinated goat herds. These DIVA diagnostic microarrays will almost certainly facilitate eradication programs for (re)emerging pathogens and zoonoses.IMPORTANCE Outbreaks of infectious diseases caused by viruses, such as pseudorabies (PR), foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), and PPR viruses, led to economic losses reaching billions of dollars. Both PR and FMD were eliminated in several countries via large-scale vaccination programs using DIVA-compatible vaccines, which lack the gE protein and nonstructural proteins, respectively. However, there are still extensive challenges facing the development and deployment of DIVA-compatible vaccines because they are time-consuming and full of uncertainty. Further, the negative marker strategy used for DIVA-compatible vaccines is no longer functional for live-attenuated vaccines. To avoid these disadvantageous scenarios, a new strategy is desired. Here, we made the exciting discovery that different IgG serodynamics can be monitored when using protein-based assays versus arrays comprising ECSPs. This DIVA microarray strategy should, in theory, work for any vaccine.

Identification of three linear B cell epitopes against non-structural protein 3ABC of FMDV using monoclonal antibodies

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) has led to serious losses in the farming industry worldwide, particularly in cattle and swine. In developing countries, the control and eradication of FMD rely upon vaccination, in which the inactivated vaccine is predominant. In the preparation of inactivated vaccine, a series of purification methods were used to remove non-structural proteins (NSPs). It is necessary to develop a quantitative detection method of residual NSP and confirm a threshold value for the evaluation of the vaccine. Meanwhile, it is also important to develop a sensitive and rapid diagnostic method to distinguish infected animals from vaccinated animals (DIVA). In this study, three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against NSP 3ABC, designated 2G5, 9E2, and 1E10, were used. Subsequently, a series of overlapping peptides were expressed using a prokaryotic expression system to determine the minimal epitopes identified by the MAbs. Three linear B cell epitopes (BCEs), "⁹²EYIEKA⁹⁷" "²³EGPYAGPLE³¹" and "²⁰⁹EPHH²¹²", were identified by MAbs 2G5, 9E2, and 1E10, respectively. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis analysis confirmed the critical amino acid in these epitopes. The epitope "⁹²EYIEKA⁹⁷" is located in 3A, which is deleted in some natural deletion mutants that result in a change in virus tropism. MAb 9E2 that identified the epitope "²³EGPYAGPLE³¹" reacted with 3B1 and 3B2, but did not react with 3B3. In combination with sequence alignment analysis, the epitope "²³EGPYAGPLE³¹" is highly conserved among different FMDV isolates. Preliminary screening using the known positive and negative sera indicated the MAb 9E2 has the potential for the development of a diagnostic method for DIVA. The residual NSP in inactivated vaccines can be detected using 9E2-HRP, which indicated the MAb 9E2 is able to evaluate inactivated vaccines. The four-amino acid epitope is the first reported to date that is recognized by 1E10. These results provide valuable insight into the diagnosis of DIVA and the NSP residual evaluation in inactivated vaccines.