Nanoparticle vaccines against viral infections

Abstract

Despite numerous efforts, we still do not have prophylactic vaccines for many clinically relevant viruses, such as HIV, hepatitis C virus, Zika virus, and respiratory syncytial virus. Several factors have contributed to the current lack of effective vaccines, including the high rate of viral mutation, low immunogenicity of recombinant viral antigens, instability of viral antigenic proteins administered in vivo, sophisticated mechanisms of viral immune evasion, and inefficient induction of mucosal immunity by vaccine models studied to date. Some of these obstacles could be partially overcome by the use of vaccine adjuvants. Nanoparticles have been intensively investigated as vaccine adjuvants because they possess chemical and structural properties that improve immunogenicity. The use of nanotechnology in the construction of immunization systems has developed into the field of viral nanovaccinology. The purpose of this paper is to review and correlate recent discoveries concerning nanoparticles and specific properties that contribute to the immunogenicity of viral nanoparticle vaccines, bio-nano interaction, design of nanoparticle vaccines for clinically relevant viruses, and future prospects for viral nanoparticle vaccination.

Inducing immune tolerance with dendritic cell-targeting nanomedicines

“…Nanoparticles can also be captured by precursor DCs present in the blood and immature DCs residing in peripheral tissues (for example, kidneys, skin) in a similar way to pathogens 21 . These discoveries sparked interest in using nanoparticles to control DC functions in immunotherapy, such as in cancer 21 and viral vaccines 22 and treating allergies 23 and may in future provide utility in the treatment of immune phenomena such as cytokine storms, a potential sequela of viral infections such as influenza 24 and SARS-CoV2 25 . The use of nanoparticles to manipulate DCs offer significant advantages over conventional DC-targeting tools such as the (1) protection of antigen cargo from protease degradation, (2) co-delivery of multiple therapeutic moieties to enhance the immune response, (3) ability to control the release of the cargo and (4) reduction of off-target effects 21,26 .…”

Progress in the Development of Universal Influenza Vaccines

“…The resultant nanoparticle vaccine display antigens on the surface of particles or enclose antigens in the particles in order to increase the antigenicity and immunogenicity of the vaccine. At present, research on nanoparticle universal influenza vaccines is mainly focused on virus-targeted proteins—e.g., HA, HA stem, M2e, NP, NA, and mosaic—which are synthesized into nanoparticles to increase the immune effect of the vaccine [ 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ].…”

Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles at a Crossroads of Vaccines and Immunotherapies

“…The new generation vaccines, which include subunit, synthetic antigens, RNA and DNA vaccines often also require a delivery carrier. Nanotechnology carriers are popular in the vaccine field due to their ability to both deliver the antigens to the antigen-presenting cells and act as adjuvants that activate APCs to express co-stimulatory molecules, upregulate their MHCII expression and produce cytokines educating optimal T-cell responses [24][25][26][27].…”