Studentship: Foot-and-mouth disease virus capsid protein VP4 as a novel target for disease control

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Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a member of the picornavirus family of non-enveloped viruses which comprise a single molecule of positive sense RNA inside a 30nm diameter protein capsid. FMD remains a major problem for livestock agriculture worldwide. In areas where the disease is endemic, control is by regular vaccinations. Outbreaks in areas normally free of disease are controlled by slaughter, emergency vaccination and trade restrictions. Vaccination with the current inactivated virus vaccines suffers from a delayed onset of immunity, poor duration of immunity and lack of cross-protection between virus serotypes/strains. New strategies are therefore required to improve control in areas where FMD is endemic and to improve emergency control of outbreaks in countries normally free of FMD. Emergency outbreak control by slaughter has become unpopular in recent years. An alternative strategy receiving increased interest is the use of antiviral drugs for emergency control of FMD, because treatment can act very quickly and bridge the delay until vaccine-mediated immunity is in place. The FMDV capsid protein VP4 is an attractive pan-serotype target because it is very highly conserved (the N terminus of VP4 is almost invariant across all FMDVs) and is likely to be amenable to both anti-viral and vaccination strategies.

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