Design and evaluation of a multi-epitope HIV-1 vaccine based on human parvovirus virus-like particles.

The development of a protective HIV vaccine remains a challenge given the high antigenic diversity and mutational rate of the virus, which leads to viral escape and establishment of reservoirs in the host. Modern antigen design can guide immune responses towards conserved sites, consensus sequences or normally subdominant epitopes, thus enabling the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies and polyfunctional lymphocyte responses. Conventional epitope vaccines can often be impaired by low immunogenicity, a limitation that may be overcome by using a carrier system.

B19-VLPs as an effective delivery system for tumour antigens to induce humoral and cellular immune responses against triple negative breast cancer.

Cancer immunotherapy is emerging as a viable treatment option for several types of cancer. Active immunotherapy aims for the induction of specific antitumor immune responses; this goal requires strategies capable of increasing the immunogenicity of tumour antigens. Parvovirus B19 virus-like particles (B19-VLPs) formed of VP2 protein had been shown to be an effective multi-neoepitope delivery system capable of inducing specific cellular responses towards coupled antigens and reducing tumour growth and lung metastases in triple negative breast cancer mouse model.