Rotavirus Vp6: Involvement in Immunogenicity, Adjuvant Activity, and Use As a Vector for Heterologous Peptides, Drug Delivery, and Production of Nano-Biomaterials Publisher Pubmed



Shoja Z¹ ; Jalilvand S² ; Latifi T² ; Roohvand F¹
Source: Archives of Virology Published:2022

Abstract

The first-generation, live attenuated rotavirus (RV) vaccines, such as RotaTeq and Rotarix, were successful in reducing the number of RV-induced acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and child deaths globally. However, the low efficacy of these first-generation oral vaccines, coupled with safety concerns, required development of improved RV vaccines. The highly conserved structural protein VP6 is highly immunogenic, and it can generate self-assembled nano-sized structures, including tubes and spheres (virus-like particles; VLPs). Amongst the RV proteins, only VP6 shows these features. Interestingly, VP6-assembled structures, in addition to being highly immunogenic, have several other useful characteristics that could allow them to be used as adjuvants, immunological carriers, and drug-delivery vehicles as well as acting a scaffold for production of valuable nano-biomaterials. This review provides an overview of the self-assembled nano-sized structures of VP6-tubes/VLPs and their various functions. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.