Nanoparticles such as virus-like particles (VLPs) are ideal scaffolds for antigen display, because they emulate many of the properties of natural viruses including their size and geometry 5, 6, 7, 8. Neutralizing antibodies that target the spike protein could, therefore, play a role in protecting the host from this viral infection 3, 4.Īlthough these standard vaccine platforms may provide the first generation of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, nanotechnology 5 has the potential to offer new and improved vaccine platforms against diseases caused by emerging viruses including SARS-CoV-2. The contemporary vaccine candidates focus on stimulating protective immune responses to the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, the protein that facilitates viral entry by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor on the surface of host cells 2. Various vaccines such as nucleic acid-based vaccines, viral vector-based vaccines, subunit vaccines, and inactivated vaccines are in different stages of clinical trials 1. Without an effective vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 will continue to strain the world’s economies and devastate many facets of our society. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage worldwide with more than a million estimated fatalities already and global economic costs in the hundreds of billions of dollars. This nanoparticle-based vaccine platform thus provides protection after a single immunization and may be broadly applicable for protecting against SARS-CoV-2 and future pathogens with pandemic potential.
![multivalent protein scaffold multivalent protein scaffold](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2020/01/30/2020.01.29.923862/F5.large.jpg)
The use of these nanoparticles as vaccines generated high neutralizing antibody titers and protected Syrian hamsters from a challenge with SARS-CoV-2 after a single immunization with no infectious virus detected in the lungs. Here, we engineered the coat protein of the MS2 bacteriophage and generated nanoparticles displaying multiple copies of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. Yet, while promising results are emerging from COVID-19 vaccine trials, the need for multiple doses and the challenges associated with the widespread distribution and administration of vaccines remain concerns. Effective vaccines remain the most promising approach to counter SARS-CoV-2. With the high binding affinity to intact influenza viruses, these neoglycoproteins can also be used as probe to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the sialic acid-influenza recognition and biosensors for influenza detection.The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc as worldwide SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, and death rates climb unabated. The pronounced agglutination indicated that these glycoconjugates can be used as adsorbents to prevent virus from invading host cells as well as the release of newly synthesized viral particles, which are crucial in the life cycle of the influenza virus. The interactions between these neoglycoproteins and intact influenza viruses were further investigated by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) technique.
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The results demonstrated that these synthetic glycoproteins have significantly higher affinity with NA than HA. The binding of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) on the virion surface by the synthetic neoglycoproteins were evaluated by hemagglutination and neuraminidase inhibition assay, respectively. The glycotriazole monomer bearing an amine-functionalized linker was synthesized by click chemistry and grafted to the lysine residues of bovine serum albumin (BSA) or human serum albumin (HSA) via diethyl squarate and adipate-based strategy. We report the synthesis of pseudo triazole-sialoside protein conjugates of various valency that are resistant to neuraminidase for the adsorption of influenza viruses.