Developing Vaccines against Foot-and-Mouth Disease: a Biotechnological Approach

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious viral disease of livestock with significant economic effect. It is prevalent in various regions of Asia, Africa, and South America. The causative agent of this disease is called foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), which is a member of Aphthovirus genus. Vaccination is an effective technique to prevent the complications of FMD and to eradicate the disease in contaminated regions. Attempts are being made since the 1930s to develop potent vaccines against FMD. The history of vaccination against FMD has documented various types of vaccines including inactivated viruses and empty capsids, as well as attenuated and recently developed recombinant vaccines. Although the available inactivated virus vaccines effectively prevent FMD, they have several limitations such as expensiveness, short shelf life, and short-lived protection. Therefore, it is essential to provide other types of vaccine. To reach this goal, researchers used various platforms including bacterial hosts, yeast expression system, and mammalian cell culture, as well as microalgae and higher plants to produce recombinant vaccines against FMDV. Green plants offer numerous benefits including low cost, correctly folded recombinant, and improved glycosylation patterns. This study aimed to provide a review of the current status and recent progress in the field of producing effective vaccines against FMDV entailing empty capsid, attenuated vaccines, and recombinant subunit vaccines. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each type are described, and the biotechnological improvements of the production of anti-FMD vaccines in plant systems are discussed with prominent examples, thereby confirming the feasibility of plant species as effective bioreactors for the production of recombinant vaccines. To the best of our knowledge, traditional approaches are still the preferred methods to protect livestock against FMD. Modern approaches such as recombinant vaccine production are quite promising. However, they have to pass research and development phase and further trials before they can be registered and launched onto the relevant market.