Nanoparticles as Vaccines to Prevent Arbovirus Infection: A Long Road Ahead

de Souza, Gabriel Augusto Pires; Rocha, Raíssa Prado; Gonçalves, Ricardo Lemes; Ferreira, Cyntia Silva; de Mello Silva, Breno; de Castro, Renato Fróes Goulart; Rodrigues, João Francisco Vitório; Júnior, João Carlos Vilela Vieira; Malaquias, Luiz Cosme Cotta; Abrahão, Jônatas Santos; Coelho, Luiz Felipe Leomil

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are a significant public health problem worldwide. Vaccination is considered one of the most effective ways to control arbovirus diseases in the human population. Nanoparticles have been widely explored as new vaccine platforms. Although nanoparticles’ potential to act as new vaccines against infectious diseases has been identified, nanotechnology’s impact on developing new vaccines to prevent arboviruses is unclear. Thus, we used a comprehensive bibliographic survey to integrate data concerning the use of diverse nanoparticles as vaccines against medically important arboviruses. Our analysis showed that considerable research had been conducted to develop and evaluate nanovaccines against Chikungunya virus, Dengue virus, Zika virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and West Nile virus. The main findings indicate that nanoparticles have great potential for use as a new vaccine system against arboviruses. Most of the studies showed an increase in neutralizing antibody production after mouse immunization. Nevertheless, even with significant advances in this field, further efforts are necessary to address the nanoparticles’ potential to act as a vaccine against these arboviruses. To promote advances in the field, we proposed a roadmap to help researchers better characterize and evaluate nanovaccines against medically important arboviruses.