Glued-together virus-like particles make for simple and effective vaccines

[AussieNeil]

'Active vaccination against infectious diseases has been one of the most effective medical interventions in human history with a tremendous impact on global health. Due to safety-, manufacturing- and reproducibility concerns, global vaccine development has gradually turned its focus away from whole-pathogen based vaccines and towards recombinant subunit vaccines based on defined antigen components. The effectiveness of simple subunit vaccines is, however, considerably inferior to that of whole-pathogen-based vaccines and the successful development of soluble proteins as vaccine candidates has in many cases been a disappointment.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) represent a significant advance in the development of subunit vaccines, combining high safety and efficacy. Their particulate nature and dense repetitive subunit organization makes them ideal scaffolds for display of vaccine antigens.'

The referenced article explains how a new technique to manufacture vaccines can provide non-live vaccines with higher efficacy.  Journal of Nanobiotechnology article: jnanobiotechnology.biomedce...

Gizmag condensed version:

gizmag.com/glued-virus-like...

Neil

Photo: Casuarina (she-oak) seed pod on grass.  The worm-like structures are the male flowers. (There are male and female casuarina trees.)