Nanoparticle Vaccines Adopting Virus-like Features for Enhanced Immune Potentiation

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

In addition to the role of lymph nodes in trapping nanoscale particles for immune processing, the immune system has also adapted to the repetitive antigen display on viruses for effective potentiation. Virus surfaces display antigenic epitopes in an ordered and highly repetitive fashion, and the presentation of repetitively arranged and appropriately spaced antigens on the surface of virus or virus-like particles has been linked to enhanced immune responses [166] . Many reports have shown that numerous components of the mammalian immune system have evolved to respond strongly to the repetitive antigen patterns frequently found on pathogens [167] [168] [169] . In comparison, non-repetitive antigens are usually less effective in inducing immune responses [170] [171] [172] [173] . Repetitive motifs on viral surfaces are also found to activate the complement system [174] engaging the CD19-CD21 complex, which further facilitates B cell activation and amplify other immune processing pathways [175] .