Virus-like Particles as Antiviral Vaccine: Mechanism, Design, and Application

Abstract

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are viral structural protein that are noninfectious as they do not contain viral genetic materials. They are safe and effective immune stimulators and play important roles in vaccine development because of their intrinsic immunogenicity to induce cellular and humoral immune responses. In the design of antiviral vaccine, VLPs based vaccines are appealing multifunctional candidates with the advantages such as self-assembling nanoscaled structures, repetitive surface epitopes, ease of genetic and chemical modifications, versatility as antigen presenting platforms, intrinsic immunogenicity, higher safety profile in comparison with live-attenuated vaccines and inactivated vaccines. In this review, we discuss the mechanism of VLPs vaccine inducing cellular and humoral immune responses. We outline the impact of size, shape, surface charge, antigen presentation, genetic and chemical modification, and expression systems when constructing effective VLPs based vaccines. Recent applications of antiviral VLPs vaccines and their clinical trials are summarized.

A nanoparticle vaccine displaying the ookinete PSOP25 antigen elicits transmission-blocking antibody response against Plasmodium berghei

“…This suggests that the VLP system is a promising alternative approach to adjuvant. The unidirectional, repetitive, and highly dense display of antigenic epitopes on the VLP surface may have also contributed to this adjuvant effect [ 52 , 53 ]. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that within each group, including the VLP-PSOP25 group, three rounds of immunization produced higher levels of antibodies compared to two doses.…”

Nucleic Acid Delivery Nanotechnologies for In Vivo Cell Programming

“…In nonenveloped VLPs, human papillomavirus (HPV) VLP vaccines are single-capsid, nonenveloped VLPs; whereas poliovirus VLPs and rotavirus VLPs are multicapsid nonenveloped VLPs. In contrast, infectious enveloped VLPs require a viral genome, internal proteins, and glycoprotein, for example, eVLP formation in retroviruses, coronaviruses, and flaviviruses. , All currently commercially available VLP-based vaccines are nonenveloped and include Engerix-B against HBV, Recombivax HB against HBV, Gardasil 9 against HPV, and Mosquirix against malaria. , With regard to VLPs for in vivo cell programming, these are still in the early research and development and preclinical phase. These include engineered lentiviral-based virus-like particles that can simultaneously deliver Cas9 ribonucleoproteins and transgenes to primary human T cells ex vivo for engineering T-cell therapies and SARS-CoV-2 based VLPs that package exogenous plasmids containing the T20 SARS-CoV-2 package signal for potential DNA delivery .…”

“…54,58 All currently commercially available VLP-based vaccines are nonenveloped and include Engerix-B against HBV, Recombivax HB against HBV, Gardasil 9 against HPV, and Mosquirix against malaria. 58,59 With regard to VLPs for in vivo cell programming, these are still in the early research and development and preclinical phase. These include engineered lentiviral-based virus-like particles that can simultaneously deliver Cas9 ribonucleoproteins and transgenes to primary human T cells ex vivo for engineering T-cell therapies 60 and SARS-CoV-2 based VLPs that package exogenous plasmids containing the T20 SARS-CoV-2 package signal for potential DNA delivery.…”

Current Progress in the Science of Novel Adjuvant Nano-Vaccine-Induced Protective Immune Responses

“…[ 64,125,126] MHC class II, major histocompatibility complex class II; APC, antigen-presenting cell; CTB, cholera toxin subunit B; MPK1, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1; MPL, monophosphoryl lipid A; TLR, toll-like receptor; QS-21, Quillaja saponaria 21; MALP-2, macrophage-activating lipopeptide-2; NF-kB, nuclear factor kappa B; GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor; TLR5, toll-like receptor 5; PLGA, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid).…”