Review: A systematic review of virus-like particles of coronavirus: Assembly, generation, chimerism and their application in basic research and in the clinic

Abstract

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are nano-scale particles that are morphologically similar to a live virus but which lack a genetic component. Since the pandemic spread of COVID-19, much focus has been placed on coronavirus (CoV)-related VLPs. CoVs contain four structural proteins, though the minimum requirement for VLP formation differs among virus species. CoV VLPs are commonly produced in mammalian and insect cell systems, sometimes in the form of chimeric VLPs that enable surface display of CoV epitopes. VLPs are an ideal model for virological research and have been applied as vaccines and diagnostic reagents to aid in clinical disease control. This review summarizes and updates the research progress on the characteristics of VLPs from different known CoVs, mainly focusing on assembly, in vitro expression systems for VLP generation, VLP chimerism, protein-based nanoparticles and their applications in basic research and clinical settings, which may aid in development of novel VLP vaccines against emerging coronavirus diseases such as SARS-CoV-2.

Virus-like Particles: Fundamentals and Biomedical Applications

“…Since the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, there has been an increasing interest in reviewing VLPs as a powerful approach to producing vaccines and nanocarriers [ 20 ]. However, there is a need to complement those studies and recent ones [ 21 ], with basic principles about expressing, manipulating, functionalizing, and characterizing VLPs.…”

Heat shock protein 90 facilitates SARS-CoV-2 structural protein-mediated virion assembly and promotes virus-induced pyroptosis

“…Since the SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins N, M, Orf3, Orf7a and Orf7b interact with both Hsp90 isoforms, we hypothesized that Hsp90 affects the viral assembly process. Thus, we focused all remaining experiments on the M and N proteins, which are the minimal requirement for SARS-CoV-2 virus-like particle (VLP) formation ( 28 , 29 , 30 ). We also performed binding assays to test whether Hsp90 participates in the interaction between viral M and N proteins in the following study, as M-N interaction is also essential for SARS-CoV-2 virion assembly ( 31 ).…”

Porcine Deltacoronavirus-like Particles Produced by a Single Recombinant Baculovirus Elicit Virus-Specific Immune Responses in Mice

“…Previous studies have reported the production of CoV-like particles using the baculovirus-insect cell expression system (BEVS) [ 27 ]. PEDV, IBV, and SARS-CoV-2 VLPs were successfully prepared by co-expression of S, E, and M proteins in Sf9 insect cells, with shapes and sizes similar to those of the naive virus.…”