Abstract

  Hepatitis E virus nanoparticle (HEVNP) is an orally stable, mucosa-penetrating delivery platform for noninvasive, targeted delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. HEVNP does not carry HEV genomic RNA and is incapable of replication. The key characteristics that make HEVNP an ideal and unique vehicle for diagnostic and therapeutic delivery include surface plasticity, resistance to the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, significant payload capacity, platform sustainability, and safety. Furthermore, HEVNP can be produced using currently established expression/purification technologies; it can be easily formulated as a liquid or powder and can be distributed (and stored) without the need for a temperature-controlled supply chain. Such a modularized platform proves effective in various applications, including cancer therapeutics, oral insulin delivery against diabetes, and the oral vaccine against infectious diseases. The capsid's flexibilities fulfill the desired function to conjugating different functional peptides and/or compounds onto the capsule surface and payloads into its interior. Here, we explore further applications of a modularized therapeutic vaccine against SARS-CoV2, including lung tissue targeting ligands displayed on the surface of HEVNP and encapsulation of DNA vectors co-expressing SARS-CoV2 antigens and shRNA to inhibit viral replication.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Mucosa-Delivery; HepE Virus Nano Particle; Therapeutic Vaccine; RNAi

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Citation

Citation: R Holland Cheng., et al. “Development of HEVNP as a Multifunctional Strategy to Combat SARS‐CoV2 as Preventive Vaccine and Antiviral Drug". Acta Scientific Microbiology 3.12 (2020): 133-141.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 R Holland Cheng., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.