High-density flagellin-displayed virus-like particle platform

High-density flagellin-displayed hepatitis b core (FH) virus-like particle (VLP) platform for vaccine development

Virus-like particles (VLPs) simulate natural viruses and are able to induce potent humoral and cellular immune responses. VLPs have been attractive vaccine delivery platforms due to their high immunogenicity and safety. Hepatitis b core (HBc) VLPs have been widely explored to display foreign antigens by insertion into its c/e1 loop. Yet, only small antigenic peptides can be successfully inserted without interference with its self-assembly into VLPs. Flagellin is a toll-like receptor (TLR) 5 agonist and has been also explored as highly immunogenic vaccine carriers. The close proximity of N- and C-terminal domains of flagellin allows its successful insertion into the c/e1 loop of HBc without affecting its self-assembly into VLPs. The resulting flagellin-displayed HBc (FH) VLPs show high immunogenicity, safety, and versatility to support vaccine development. Currently, we are taking advantage of the highly immunogenic FH VLP platform to develop M2e-based universal influenza vaccine.