Synthetic Viruslike Particles And Hybrid Constructs Based On Lipopeptide Self-assembly.

The spontaneous self-assembly of biological molecules to form viruslike particles (VLPs) represents a key area of research in biotechnology and pharmacology. Use of VLP-based vaccines is expected to contribute significantly to new advances in health care; for example, the human papilloma virus (HPV) and hepatitis B virus vaccines were recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). VLPs are most commonly derived from recombinant proteins that assemble to form capsids devoid of native nucleic acids. Significantly, the oligomeric nature of the VLP structure facilitates the display ofmultiple copies of a bound antigen, and as a consequence elicits a vigorous immune response when introduced to the body.Recently, syntheticVLPs (SVLPs) that require no cell-culturing or recombinant DNA methods for production have been produced using artificial building blocks. In particular, a persistent micellelike nanostructure with VLP properties was recently prepared using a synthetic lipopeptide (FB-6) comprising a primary sequence of 50 amino acidsderived fromthea-helical-formingheptad repeat region1 (Ala 153 – Gln 202) of the F1 glycoprotein of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with two additional Gly residues at the