Major findings and recent advances in virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have made giant strides in the field of vaccinology over the last three decades. VLPs constitute versatile tools in vaccine development due to their favourable immunological characteristics such as their size, repetitive surface geometry, ability to induce both innate and adaptive immune responses as well as being safe templates with favourable economics. Several VLP-based vaccines are commercially available including vaccines against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) such as Cervarix®, Gardasil® & Gardasil9® and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) including the 3rd generation Sci-B-Vac™. In addition, the first licensed malaria-VLP-based vaccine Mosquirix™ has been recently approved by the European regulators. Several other VLP-based vaccines are currently undergoing preclinical and clinical development. This review summarizes some of the major findings and recent advances in VLP-based vaccine development and technologies and outlines general principles that may be harnessed for induction of targeted immune responses.