(1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541199, China; 2. College of Medical Laboratory Science, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541199, China; 3. College of Intelligent Medicine and Biotechnology, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541199, China)

Abstract: Coxsackievirus A10 (CV-A10) is one of the most common pathogens causing hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). The 39 candidate epitope peptides covering the amino acid sequence of the VP1 region of CV-A10 were screened by using the overlapping peptide method and verified by indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and microneutralization inhibition assays. It has been found that candidate epitope P6 (amino acid 39~53 in VP1 region of CV-A10) showed high reactivity with CV-A10 virus serum, and still showed neutralizing inhibition effect at 3.91 μg/mL dilution mass concentration, which was a potential neutralizing epitope. P6 antiserum was prepared by immunizing mice with P6 peptide, and microneutralization test was used to verify its protective effect. The results showed a 1:8.97 geometric mean neutralizing titer for P6 antiserum, which identified P6 as the neutralizing epitope of CV-A10. In order to understand the conservativeness of P6 sequence in CV-A10, the amino acid sequence of the P6 was compared with the representative strains of CV-A10 genotype, and the results showed that P6 was highly conserved in CV-A10. It indicated that P6 is a conserved linear neutralization epitope of CV-A10, which has the potential to resist the infection of various genotypes of CV-A10, and can be used as a target for the development of CV-A10 epitope vaccine. This study aimed to screen and identify linearly neutralizing epitopes on the CV-A10 VP1 protein and to lay a foundation for the development of CV-A10 epitope vaccine and HFMD prevention.

Key words: coxsackievirus A10; VP1 protein; linear neutral epitope; vaccine; hand, foot and mouth disease

（Acta Laser Biology Sinica, 2024, 33(2): 160-166）