Virus-like particles in picornavirus vaccine development

Abstract

Virus-like particles (VLP), which are similar to natural virus particles but do not contain viral genes, have brought about significant breakthroughs in many research fields because of their unique advantages. The ordered repeating epitopes of VLP can induce immunity responses similar to those prompted by natural viral infection; thus, VLP vaccines are regarded as candidate alternatives to whole-virus vaccines. As picornavirus has serious impacts on human and animal health, the development of efficient and safe vaccines is a key endeavor in preventing virus infections. The characteristics of picornavirus capsid proteins allow the development of VLP vaccines. This paper investigates research scenarios and progress on picornavirus VLP vaccines with the aim of providing a reference for researchers focusing on virology and vaccinology. © 2014 Springer-Verlag.