ABSTRACT
The vaccines represent the most advanced field of the RNA phage VLP applications due to the excellent and well-established scaffold properties and structural tolerance to the decoration by foreign immunogenic sequences. Such decoration can be performed both genetically and chemically, and the VLP scaffold may provide foreign epitopes with the strong T cell response. Moreover, the RNA phage VLPs can serve as nanocontainers that can encapsulate specific adjuvants, such as immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides, or CpGs, as the TLR9 ligands. The RNA phage VLPs may package single-stranded or double-stranded RNA fragments as the TLR7 and TLR3 ligands, respectively. Moreover, the recombinant RNA phage VLPs contain spontaneously encapsulated bacterial RNA, which may also act as an adjuvant. It is emphasized that the chemical coupling approach was validated by an impressive line of experimental therapeutic vaccines developed by the Martin F. Bachmann's lab. The experimental vaccines and vaccine prototypes including the therapeutic ones are listed in this chapter.
