Nanoparticle Vaccines Adopting Virus-like Features for Enhanced Immune Potentiation

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

Vaccination is a process of introducing antigenic material to activate an individual's immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen. It has proven to be the most successful and cost-effective prophylactic measure against infectious diseases. Vaccines have been responsible for eradicating or effectively managing many major diseases, including smallpox, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, and yellow fever [1] . Despite the many examples of successful vaccines, many disease threats, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis, dengue, and malaria, lack an effective prophylactic measure. Thus, development of new vaccine formulations and technology remains an ongoing quest [2] . Conventionally, vaccine formulations are comprised of biological materials in the form of attenuated viruses, killed pathogens, or subunit protein antigens. Each platform has its distinct advantages and shortcomings, frequently presenting a trade-off between safety and efficacy. For example, live attenuated vaccines are excellent at inducing long lasting protective immunity and strong immune response, but their "live" nature poses safety concerns, especially to individuals who may be immunocompromised. On the other hand, subunit vaccines are safer to administer, but they are less immunogenic and less effective at eliciting cellular immunity for disease protection (Fig. 1) . Emerging technology and formulations to combine the advantages of live attenuated and subunit vaccines thus continue to be developed with the aim of maximizing vaccine safety and potency.