Virus-like particles: a new family of delivery systems

BOISGÉRAULT, FLORENCE; MORÓN, GABRIEL; LECLERC, CLAUDE

EXPERT REVIEW OF VACCINES

Future drugs Ltd

Año: 2002 vol. 1 p. 109 - 109

1476-0584

The development of antiviral vaccines has almost exclusively been based on liveattenuated vaccines up until now. However, the efficacy of HBsAg particles as an antiHBVvaccine has clearly demonstrated that protective antiviral immunity can be achieved byother strategies. Virus-like particles formed by structural proteins were proven to be highlyimmunogenic and capable of inducing protective immunity against various viral infectionsin preclinical studies.Clinical trials using virus-like particles confirmed their safety andimmunogenicity. Moreover, chimeric virus-like particles carrying foreign peptidicsequences were shown to elicit potent B- and T-cell responses. Virus-like particles formedby a fusion protein between the HBsAg and the circumsporozoïte surface protein are safeand immunogenic in volunteers and induce a partial protection against naturalPlasmodium falciparum infection.