Adjuvant formulations for virus-like particle (VLP) based vaccines

Abstract

The development of virus-like particle (VLP) technology has had an enormous impact on modern vaccinology. In order to optimize the efficacy and safety of VLP-based vaccines, adjuvants are included in most vaccine formulations. To date, most licensed VLP-based vaccines utilize the classic aluminum adjuvant compositions. Certain challenging pathogens and weak immune responder subjects may require further optimization of the adjuvant formulation to maximize the magnitude and duration of the protective immunity. Indeed, novel classes of adjuvants such as liposomes, agonists of pathogen recognition receptors, polymeric particles, emulsions, cytokines and bacterial toxins, can be used to optimize the immunostimulatory activity of a VLP-based vaccine. This review describes the current advances in adjuvant technology for VLP-based vaccines directed at viral diseases, and discusses the basic principles for designing adjuvant formulations for enhancing the vaccine immunogenicity.

Protective Malaria Vaccine in Mice Based on the Plasmodium vivax Circumsporozoite Protein Fused with the Mumps Nucleocapsid Protein

“…Although these molecular structures resemble whole virus particles, they do not have genetic material and are therefore unable to infect cells and self-replicate, making them a very safe choice for vaccine formulations [24]. Additionally, VLPs are known for their efficiency at presenting heterologous target antigens-a strategy that can radically alter the magnitude of the immune response, thereby significantly improving the protection that the new vaccines confer [25][26][27].…”

Recent Progress on the Versatility of Virus-Like Particles

“…This, in turn, stimulates the secretion of various cytokines by APCs to induce a strong immune response [13]. Furthermore, as a regular polyhedron with a highly repetitive epitope, VLPs can cross-link B-cell receptors and effectively activate B-cells [14,15]. In the absence of DCs, B cells are sufficient to induce T follicular helper cell development [16].…”

Virus-Like Particle-Mediated Vaccination against Interleukin-13 May Harbour General Anti-Allergic Potential beyond Atopic Dermatitis

“…Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines are nanostructures generated by self-assembly of structural proteins resembling the native version in their morphology and composition but lack the genomic material of infectious capacity [4,5]. VLPs can be acquired from a variety of expression systems and platforms including bacteriophages (MS2, PP7 and AP205 [6][7][8]), yeast (Hansenula polymorpha and Saccharomyces cerevisiae [9,10]), bacteria (Escherichia coli [8]), mammalian cell lines (Vero, 293T and BHK cell lines [11][12][13]), plant cell culture (cowpea mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco mosaic virus, and bean yellow dwarf virus [14][15][16]) and insect cell lines (Baculovirus and Sf9 cell line [12,17]) [18].…”

“…Vaccine development faces a clear challenge: production of sufficient amounts of quality antibodies to target the desired antigen. VLPs provide an excellent vaccine delivery platform due to their composition: their small size (usually 20-200 nm), geometry and flexibility during development [4]. Their size allows easy passage and drainage through the lymph to reach all areas such as secondary lymphoid organs resulting in profound effects in targeting follicular B cells [4,[19][20][21].…”

“…VLPs provide an excellent vaccine delivery platform due to their composition: their small size (usually 20-200 nm), geometry and flexibility during development [4]. Their size allows easy passage and drainage through the lymph to reach all areas such as secondary lymphoid organs resulting in profound effects in targeting follicular B cells [4,[19][20][21]. Furthermore, CD8+ and plasmacytoid subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) can cross-present small-sized antigens such as VLPs and active B cells and T cells in the lymph nodes to induce cytotoxic effects [20,22,23].…”