[Bacterial synthesis of immunogenic epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus fused either to human necrosis factor or to hepatitis B core antigen].
Using recombinant DNA technology, construction and bacterial expression of genes was carried out which code for hybrid proteins, human tumor necrosis factor and hepatitis B core protein fused to immunogenic epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus, strains A22 and O1-194. Hybrids of tumor necrosis factor with foot-and-mouth disease antigenic determinants protected laboratory animals against the experimental challenge with a homologous strain of foot-and-mouth disease virus. Hybrid protein that contained immunogenic regions of two strains, A22 and O1-194, protected animals against infection with both A and O serotypes. Hybrid proteins based on hepatitis B virus core antigen retained the ability to assemble into core-like particles.