Hepatitis B virus core particles containing multiple epitopes confer protection against enterovirus 71 and coxsackievirus A16 infection in mice

Human enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) are the two major causative agents of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). To investigate novel combined vaccines to prevent EV71 and CA16 infection, we constructed chimeric virus-like particles (tHBc/SPA or tHBc/SP VLPs) displaying conserved epitopes of EV71 (aa 208-222 of VP1 and aa 248-263 of VP2) and CA16 (aa271-285 of VP1) using a truncated hepatitis B virus core carrier (tHBc)....