Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 9, 2026

Detection of Neutralization-sensitive Epitopes in Antigens Displayed on Virus-Like Particle VLP-Based Vaccines Using a Capture Assay
Published on: February 10, 2022
Mechanism of biomimetic virus-like nanoparticles in triggering immune response elucidated by proteomics
Jiajia Wang1, Ahmed Montaser2, Minna Sivonen1
1Department of Technical Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio 70211, Finland.
Abstract:
The use of biomimetic nanoparticles (NPs) with virus-like morphology have recently attracted research interest as novel delivery platforms and immune adjuvants. However, the exact interactions between the nanoparticles and immune cells as well as the mechanism involved are not known in detail. This motivated us to develop virus-like mesoporous silica nanoparticles (VLP) to characterize their physicochemical properties, and to determine the immune pathways induced by the particles in mouse macrophages. The results showed inclusion of spikes mimicking viral structures on the surface increased cellular uptake and enhanced immune response as compared to spherical NPs. Proteomic analysis revealed that the pathways of RIG-I-like receptor signaling, MAPK, NF-κB, and Toll-like receptor signaling were involved in regulating the immune response when macrophages interacted with VLP. When the spikes increased from 5 to 30 nm, the expression of immune-related proteins including TRAF6 and PIAS4 proteins was upregulated. This study revealed the interaction pathways and key proteins in the activation of immune response with VLP, which may provide insights to develop novel immunotherapy for enhanced efficacy.
More Related Videos
11:07Whole-animal Imaging and Flow Cytometric Techniques for Analysis of Antigen-specific CD8+ T Cell Responses after Nanoparticle Vaccination
Published on: April 29, 2015
08:07Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Published on: January 12, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Immune Response Against Viral Pathogens
NK Cells
NK cells are a crucial part of our innate immune system, acting as the first line of defense against viral infections. These cells can recognize and kill infected cells without prior exposure to the virus, effectively slowing down the spread of infection. Additionally, NK cells produce proinflammatory...
Conjugated Proteins
Nucleoproteins are protein complexes that contain nucleic acids, categorized as deoxyribonucleoproteins (DNPs) or ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) respectively. The nucleosome is a typical example of a DNP where nuclear DNA is associated with histone proteins. The major antigen for the Covid-19 virus SARS-CoV is an RNP that is critical...
Viral Structure
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...