TY - JOUR
T1 - Functionalizing ferritin nanoparticles for vaccine development
AU - Rodrigues, Margarida Q.
AU - Alves, Paula M.
AU - Roldão, António
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support from European Commission (Projects EDUFLUVAC, TRANSVAC2, and PROMETEUS, grant numbers 602640, 730964, and 823780 respectively), and Portuguese Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the following programs: FCT Investigator Starting Grant (IF/01704/2014), Exploratory Research and Development Project (EXPL/BBB-BIO/1541/2013), and PhD fellowship (DFA/BD/8167/2020). iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020) a program financially supported by FCT/Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, through national funds is acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - In the last decade, the interest in ferritin-based vaccines has been increasing due to their safety and immunogenicity. Candidates against a wide range of pathogens are now on Phase I clinical trials namely for influenza, Epstein-Barr, and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Manufacturing challenges related to particle heterogeneity, improper folding of fused antigens, and antigen interference with intersubunit interactions still need to be overcome. In addition, protocols need to be standardized so that the production bioprocess becomes reproducible, allowing ferritin-based therapeutics to become readily available. In this review, the building blocks that enable the formulation of ferritin-based vaccines at an experimental stage, including design, production, and purification are presented. Novel bioengineering strategies of functionalizing ferritin nanoparticles based on modular assembly, allowing the challenges associated with genetic fusion to be circumvented, are discussed. Distinct up/down-stream approaches to produce ferritin-based vaccines and their impact on production yield and vaccine efficacy are compared. Finally, ferritin nanoparticles currently used in vaccine development and clinical trials are summarized.
AB - In the last decade, the interest in ferritin-based vaccines has been increasing due to their safety and immunogenicity. Candidates against a wide range of pathogens are now on Phase I clinical trials namely for influenza, Epstein-Barr, and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Manufacturing challenges related to particle heterogeneity, improper folding of fused antigens, and antigen interference with intersubunit interactions still need to be overcome. In addition, protocols need to be standardized so that the production bioprocess becomes reproducible, allowing ferritin-based therapeutics to become readily available. In this review, the building blocks that enable the formulation of ferritin-based vaccines at an experimental stage, including design, production, and purification are presented. Novel bioengineering strategies of functionalizing ferritin nanoparticles based on modular assembly, allowing the challenges associated with genetic fusion to be circumvented, are discussed. Distinct up/down-stream approaches to produce ferritin-based vaccines and their impact on production yield and vaccine efficacy are compared. Finally, ferritin nanoparticles currently used in vaccine development and clinical trials are summarized.
KW - Ferritin nanoparticles
KW - Genetic fusion
KW - Modular assembly
KW - Recombinant expression
KW - Surface decoration
KW - Vaccines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117214604&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13101621
DO - 10.3390/pharmaceutics13101621
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85117214604
SN - 1999-4923
VL - 13
JO - Pharmaceutics
JF - Pharmaceutics
IS - 10
M1 - 1621
ER -