Nanoparticle Vaccines Adopting Virus-like Features for Enhanced Immune Potentiation

Chattopadhyay, Saborni; Chen, Jui-Yi; Chen, Hui-Wen; Hu, Che-Ming Jack

Advances in nanotechnology and its adoption in vaccinology have helped push the boundaries of non-live, subunit vaccines, resulting in many exciting demonstrations of effective immune potentiation by nanoformulations. Not only can nanoparticle vaccines enhance humoral responses against target antigens, they have been shown to promote cell-based immunity as well as immunological memory. These are hallmarks of good vaccine formulations that are often inherent to live attenuated viruses. An increasing number of studies have shed light on the mechanisms behind the benefits of nanoparticle vaccines, including lymph node targeting, multivalent antigen display, and coordinated delivery of antigens and adjuvants. These features can find their mechanistic analogues in the immunological processing of viruses. Given the frequent semblance between nanoparticle vaccines and viruses regarding their size, morphology, antigen display, and adjuvanticity effect, nanoparticles present a compelling platform in bridging the gap between live and non-live vaccines. Emerging techniques in nanoparticle functionalization also pave ways to novel formulation designs that promise controlled immune modulation. Going forward, understanding of virology may assist scientists and engineering in preparing emerging nanoformulations with advanced virus-like features. Such vaccine nanotechnology is envisioned to improve vaccine safety, potency, and availability, offering compelling platforms towards addressing the many public health threats yet to have effective prophylaxis and treatment options.