Virus-like particle

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are molecules that closely resemble viruses, but are non-infectious because they contain no viral genetic material.

These are defective, immature virions, sometimes containing genetic material, that are generally non-infective due to the lack of a functional viral envelope.

Cervarix consists of recombinant VLPs assembled from the L1 proteins of HPV types 16 and 18, expressed in insect cells, and is adjuvanted with 3-O-Desacyl-4-monophosphoryl lipid (MPL) A and aluminum hydroxide.

Nature is full of examples of hierarchically compartmentalized multicomponent structures that self-assembles from individual building blocks.

Integral Membrane proteins are involved in diverse biological functions and are targeted by nearly 50% of existing therapeutic drugs.

Lipoparticles can incorporate a wide variety of structurally intact membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR)s, ion channels and viral Envelopes.

Lipoparticles provide a platform for numerous applications including antibody screening, production of immunogens and ligand binding assays.

[33] Attaching proteins, nucleic acids, or small molecules to the VLP surface, such as for targeting a specific cell type or for raising an immune response is useful.

An alternative is to assemble the VLP and then use chemical crosslinkers,[35] reactive unnatural amino acids[36] or SpyTag/SpyCatcher reaction[37][38] in order to covalently attach the molecule of interest.

This method is effective at directing the immune response against the attached molecule, thereby inducing high levels of neutralizing antibody and even being able to break tolerance to self-proteins displayed on VLPs.