Virus-like Particles Based Vaccine Development Services for SARS-CoV-2

Emerging infectious diseases are a major threat to human health. In the past 20 years, the epidemics caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and Ebola virus have caused significant mortality and economic losses. Therefore, it is very important to prevent the spread of new viruses. The most effective way to prevent this viral disease is vaccination. Creative Biolabs proposed a virus like particle (VLP)-based vaccine development service to combat the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in China in December 2019.

Introduction of VLPs Based Vaccine

VLPs are multi-protein structures, which mimic the organization and conformation of authentic native viruses, but lack the viral genome, and may produce safer and cheaper vaccine candidates. If the specific native viral proteins with immunosuppressive function are excluded from VLPs, the efficacy of these particles can be significantly enhanced. Compared with single protein or peptide, VLPs present more similar conformational epitopes to the original virus. Therefore, antibody reactivity or immune system response is expected to be significantly improved. Due to their highly repetitive surfaces, VLPs are able to induce strong B cell responses without adjuvants by effectively crosslinking specific receptors on B cells. Studies have shown that VLP vaccines can stimulate humoral and cellular immune responses, thus providing effective antiviral protection.

Fig.1 Immunological mechanisms of VLP-based vaccines. (Klimek, 2018)

VLPs Based Vaccine Development Services for SARS-CoV-2

CoV virions are roughly spherical with an average diameter between 50 and 200 nm. CoVs are composed of four structural proteins: spike protein, envelope protein, membrane protein and nucleocapsid protein. In the study of SARS-VLPs, it was found that SARS-VLPs produced by baculovirus expression system could produce strong IgG and secretory IgA response by mucosal or systemic immunity. In addition, SARS-VLPs can activate dendritic cells (DCs) and induce cellular immune response.

VLPs-based vaccines have been developed as a new generation of non-egg-based, cell culture-derived vaccine candidates against virus infection. Compared to inactivated and attenuated vaccines, VLPs do not contain infectious materials, which have gained much attention due to their potential in developing effective and safe SARS-CoV vaccine. Thus, for the current SARS-CoV-2, we propose a VLP-based vaccine development service. At present, we have mastered a variety of VLP expression systems, such as mammalian cells (293T, CHO), yeast, recombinant vaccinia virus and baculovirus expression systems. At the same time, genetic engineering is used to improve the immunogenicity of VLP and enhance the protective effect against SARS-CoV-2 challenge.

Our Services

With our extensive experience in developing other CoV VLPs, Creative Biolabs has developed the SARS-CoV-2 VLP successfully and now offers high-quality VLP production services for our worldwide customers.

Available SARS-CoV-2 VLPs at Creative Biolabs:

SARS-CoV-2 VLP Vaccine Platform based on MVA Vector

MVA is an attenuated vaccinia strain that can elicit strong and durable antiviral immune responses. Using the MVA vector and combined with VLP expression technology, Creative Biolabs has developed an efficient VLP (MVA) platform to help package highly immunogenic virus-like particles (VLP) with target protein in the vaccinated individuals and also has the safety and immunity persistence characteristics of MVA.

If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Klimek, L., et al. Virus-like particles (VLP) in prophylaxis and immunotherapy of allergic diseases. Allergo journal international. 2018, 27(8): 245-255.

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