Production and purification of SV40 major capsid protein (VP1) in Escherichia coli strains deficient for the GroELS chaperone machine

Virus-like particle-based nanocarriers as an emerging platform for drug delivery

New nanocarrier technologies are emerging, and they have great potential for improving drug delivery, targeting efficiency, and bioavailability. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are natural nanoparticles from animal and plant viruses and bacteriophages. Hence, VLPs present several great advantages, such as morphological uniformity, biocompatibility, reduced toxicity, and easy functionalisation. VLPs can deliver many active ingredients to the target tissue and have great potential as a nanocarrier to overcome the limitations associated with other nanoparticles. This review will focus primarily on the construction and applications of VLPs, particularly as a novel nanocarrier to deliver active ingredients. Herein, the main methods for the construction, purification, and characterisation of VLPs, as well as various VLP-based materials used in delivery systems are summarised. The biological distribution of VLPs in drug delivery, phagocyte-mediated clearance, and toxicity are also discussed.

Production and biomedical applications of virus-like particles derived from polyomaviruses

Virus-like particles (VLPs), aggregates of capsid proteins devoid of viral genetic material, show great promise in the fields of vaccine development and gene therapy. These particles spontaneously self-assemble after heterologous expression of viral structural proteins. This review will focus on the use of virus-like particles derived from polyomavirus capsid proteins. Since their first recombinant production 27 years ago these particles have been investigated for a myriad of biomedical applications. These virus-like particles are safe, easy to produce, can be loaded with a broad range of diverse cargoes and can be tailored for specific delivery or epitope presentation. We will highlight the structural characteristics of polyomavirus-derived VLPs and give an overview of their applications in diagnostics, vaccine development and gene delivery.

Construction and characterization of virus-like particles: a review

Over the last three decades, virus-like particles (VLPs) have evolved to become a widely accepted technology, especially in the field of vaccinology. In fact, some VLP-based vaccines are currently used as commercial medical products, and other VLP-based products are at different stages of clinical study. Several remarkable advantages have been achieved in the development of VLPs as gene therapy tools and new nanomaterials. The analysis of published data reveals that at least 110 VLPs have been constructed from viruses belonging to 35 different families. This review therefore discusses the main principles in the cloning of viral structural genes, the relevant host systems and the purification procedures that have been developed. In addition, the methods that are used to characterize the structural integrity, stability, and components, including the encapsidated nucleic acids, of newly synthesized VLPs are analyzed. Moreover, some of the modifications that are required to construct VLP-based carriers of viral origin with defined properties are discussed, and examples are provided.

Virus-like particles as a highly efficient vaccine platform: diversity of targets and production systems and advances in clinical development

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are a class of subunit vaccines that differentiate themselves from soluble recombinant antigens by stronger protective immunogenicity associated with the VLP structure. Like parental viruses, VLPs can be either non-enveloped or enveloped, and they can form following expression of one or several viral structural proteins in a recombinant heterologous system. Depending on the complexity of the VLP, it can be produced in either a prokaryotic or eukaryotic expression system using target-encoding recombinant vectors, or in some cases can be assembled in cell-free conditions. To date, a wide variety of VLP-based candidate vaccines targeting various viral, bacterial, parasitic and fungal pathogens, as well as non-infectious diseases, have been produced in different expression systems. Some VLPs have entered clinical development and a few have been licensed and commercialized. This article reviews VLP-based vaccines produced in different systems, their immunogenicity in animal models and their status in clinical development.

The abundant nuclear enzyme PARP participates in the life cycle of simian virus 40 and is stimulated by minor capsid protein VP3

The abundant nuclear enzyme poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) functions in DNA damage surveillance and repair and at the decision between apoptosis and necrosis. Here we show that PARP binds to simian virus 40 (SV40) capsid proteins VP1 and VP3. Furthermore, its enzymatic activity is stimulated by VP3 but not by VP1. Experiments with purified mutant proteins demonstrated that the PARP binding domain in VP3 is localized to the 35 carboxy-terminal amino acids, while a larger peptide of 49 amino acids was required for full stimulation of its activity. The addition of 3-aminobenzamide (3-AB), a known competitive inhibitor of PARP, demonstrated that PARP participates in the SV40 life cycle. The titer of SV40 propagated on CV-1 cells was reduced by 3-AB in a dose-dependent manner. Additional experiments showed that 3-AB did not affect viral DNA replication or capsid protein production. PARP did not modify the viral capsid proteins in in vitro poly(ADP-ribosylation) assays, implying that it does not affect SV40 infectivity. On the other hand, it greatly reduced the magnitude of the host cytopathic effects, a hallmark of SV40 infection. Additional experiments suggested that the stimulation of PARP activity by VP3 leads the infected cell to a necrotic pathway, characterized by the loss of membrane integrity, thus facilitating the release of mature SV40 virions from the cells. Our studies identified a novel function of the minor capsid protein VP3 in the recruitment of PARP for the SV40 lytic process.

Cellular transcription factor Sp1 recruits simian virus 40 capsid proteins to the viral packaging signal, ses

Simian virus 40 (SV40) capsid assembly occurs in the nucleus. All three capsid proteins bind DNA nonspecifically, raising the dilemma of how they attain specificity to the SV40 minichromosome in the presence of a large excess of genomic DNA. The SV40 packaging signal, ses, which is required for assembly, is composed of multiple DNA elements that bind transcription factor Sp1. Our previous studies showed that Sp1 participates in SV40 assembly and that it cooperates in DNA binding with VP2/3. We hypothesized that Sp1 recruits the capsid proteins to the viral minichromosome, conferring upon them specific DNA recognition. Here, we have tested the hypothesis. Computer analysis showed that the combination of six tandem GC boxes at ses is not found at cellular promoters and therefore is unique to SV40. Cooperativity in DNA binding between Sp1 and VP2/3 was not abolished at even a 1,000-fold excess of cellular DNA, providing strong support for the recruitment hypothesis. Sp1 also binds VP1 and cooperates with VP1 in DNA binding. VP1 pentamers (VP1(5)) avidly interact with VP2/3, utilizing the same VP2/3 domain as described for polyomavirus. We conclude that VP1(5)-VP2/3 building blocks are recruited by Sp1 to ses, where they form the nucleation center for capsid assembly. By this mechanism the virus ensures that capsid formation is initiated at a single site around its minichromosome. Sp1 enhances the formation of SV40 pseudovirions in vitro, providing additional support for the model. Analyses of Sp1 and VP3 deletion mutants showed that Sp1 and VP2/3 bind one another and cooperate in DNA binding through their DNA-binding domains, with additional contacts outside these domains. VP1 contacts Sp1 at residues outside the Sp1 DNA-binding domain. These and additional data allowed us to propose a molecular model for the VP1(5)-VP2/3-DNA-Sp1 complex.