ABSTRACT
This chapter describes advances in the use and development of viral nanoparticles (VNPs) for potential biomedical applications. VNPs derived from plant viruses and phages are less likely to interact specifically with the mammalian system and therefore less likely to cause potential toxic side effects. For certain applications in nanomedicine such as imaging or drug delivery, immunogenicity may be regarded as an undesired side effect. For vaccine development, immunogenicity of the carrier is beneficial as it helps to boost the immune response. Virus-like particles and VNPs are immunogenic because of their highly ordered and repetitive structures that are recognized as pathogen-associated molecular patterns by the immune system. VNPs and other nanomaterials can be utilized to interlink targeting and imaging modalities. Targeting imaging modalities and therapeutic molecules specifically to sites of disease while avoiding healthy tissues is an important goal in biomedicine.
