Development of an Indirect Chemiluminescence Immunoassay Using a Multiepitope Recombinant Protein To Specifically Detect Antibodies against Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype O in Swine

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) has led to serious losses in animal husbandry worldwide. Seromonitoring of FMDV postvaccination is important for the control and eradication of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in regions and countries where vaccination is widespread. However, many commercial kits present high false-positive rates. In this study, a multiepitope-based indirect chemiluminescence immunoassay (ME-CLIA) was developed for specifically detecting antibodies against FMDV serotype O in swine sera. The developed method presented high diagnostic sensitivity and excellent diagnostic specificity, and it could detect a broad spectrum of antibodies against FMDV serotype O. The diagnostic performance, accuracy rate, and analytical sensitivity of ME-CLIA were compared with those of three commercial kits. The immune protection value of multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine detected using ME-CLIA was preliminarily determined by observation of clinical symptoms postimmunization challenge, the results of which indicated that the ME-CLIA can be employed as a matching detection method for evaluating multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine. The percent positive values of ME-CLIA determined using swine vaccinated with inactivated vaccine were significantly positively correlated with the titers of liquid-phase-blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (LBPE) (r = 0.8361; P < 0.0001). These results indicated that ME-CLIA is suitable for detection of antibodies against FMDV serotype O in swine and for potency evaluation of multiple-epitope and inactivated vaccines.

Automated summary

A multi-epitope-based indirect chemiluminescence immunoassay (ME-CLIA) was developed to specifically detect antibodies against FMDV serotype O in swine sera, showing high diagnostic sensitivity and excellent diagnostic specificity, suitable for evaluating multiple-epitope recombinant vaccine as a matching detection method.