Viral nanoparticles and virus-like particles: platforms for contemporary vaccine design.

Current vaccines that provide protection against infectious diseases have primarily relied on attenuated or inactivated pathogens. Virus-like particles (VLPs), comprised of capsid proteins that can initiate an immune response but do not include the genetic material required for replication, promote immunogenicity and have been developed and approved as vaccines in some cases. In addition, many of these VLPs can be used as molecular platforms for genetic fusion or chemical attachment of heterologous antigenic epitopes. This approach has been shown to provide protective immunity against the foreign epitopes in many cases. A variety of VLPs and virus-based nanoparticles are being developed for use as vaccines and epitope platforms. These particles have the potential to increase efficacy of current vaccines as well as treat diseases for which no effective vaccines are available.