Core-virus like particles (VLPs) assembly is a kinetically complex cascade of interactions between viral proteins, nanoparticle's surface and an ionic environment. Despite many in silico simulations regarding this process, there is still a lack of experimental data. The main goal of this study was to investigate the capsid protein of hepatitis B virus (HBc) assembly into virus-like particles with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) as a magnetic core in relation to their characteristics. The native form of HBc was obtained via agroinfection of with pEAQ-HBc plasmid. SPIONs of diameter of 15 nm were synthesized and functionalized with two ligands, providing variety in ζ-potential and hydrodynamic diameter. The antigenic potential of the assembled core-VLPs was assessed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Morphology of SPIONs and core-VLPs was evaluated via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The most successful core-VLPs assembly was obtained for SPIONs functionalized with dihexadecyl phosphate (DHP) at SPIONs/HBc ratio of 0.2/0.05 mg/mL. ELISA results indicate significant decrease of antigenicity concomitant with core-VLPs assembly. In summary, this study provides an experimental assessment of the crucial parameters guiding SPION-HBc VLPs assembly and evaluates the antigenicity of the obtained structures.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano9020155 | DOI Listing |
ACS Nano
January 2025
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 901 Atlantic Dr., Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
Structural variants of the synthetic opioid fentanyl are a major threat to public health. Following an investigation showing that many derivatives are poorly detected by commercial lateral flow and related assays, we created hapten conjugate vaccines using an immunogenic virus-like particle carrier and eight synthetic fentanyl derivatives designed to mimic the structural features of several of the more dangerous analogues. Immunization of mice elicited strong antihapten humoral responses, allowing the screening of hundreds of hapten-specific hybridomas for binding strength and specificity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States of America.
PEG10 is a retroelement-derived Mart-family gene that is necessary for placentation and has been implicated in neurological disease. PEG10 resembles both retrotransposon and retroviral proteins and forms virus-like particles (VLPs) that can be purified using iodixanol ultracentrifugation. It is hypothesized that formation of VLPs is crucial to the biological roles of PEG10 in reproduction and neurological health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Chem
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, United States.
Charge detection mass spectrometry (CD-MS) is used to monitor the dissociation of large (300 kDa to 20 MDa) protein complexes in droplets heated with a 10.6 μm CO laser. In this approach, electrospray ionization (ESI) is used to produce charged droplets containing macromolecular complexes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
December 2024
Animal Infectious Disease Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225012, China.
The ongoing global health crisis caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) necessitates the continuous development of innovative vaccine strategies, especially in light of emerging viral variants that could undermine the effectiveness of existing vaccines. In this study, we developed a recombinant virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine based on the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) platform, displaying a stabilized prefusion form of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. This engineered S protein includes two proline substitutions (K986P, V987P) and a mutation at the cleavage site (RRAR to QQAQ), aimed at enhancing both its stability and immunogenicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
December 2024
State Key Laboratory of Swine and Poultry Breeding Industry, National Engineering Center for Swine Breeding Industry, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV3) is a small non-enveloped circovirus associated with porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS). It has occurred worldwide and poses a serious threat to the pig industry. However, there is no commercially available vaccine.
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