Site-Specific Modification of Virus-Like Particles for Exogenous Tumor Antigen Display and Minimizing Preexisting Immunity

The widespread preexisting immunity against virus-like particles (VLPs) seriously limits the applications of VLPs as vaccine vectors. Enabling technology for exogenous antigen display should not only ensure the assembly ability of VLPs and site-specific modification, but also consider the effect of preexisting immunity on the behavior of VLPs in vivo. Here, combining genetic code expansion technique and synthetic biology strategy, a site-specific modification method for hepatitis B core (HBc) VLPs via incorporating azido-phenylalanine into the desired positions is described. Through modification position screening, it is found that HBc VLPs incorporated with azido-phenylalanine at the main immune region can effectively assemble and rapidly conjugate with the dibenzocycolctyne-modified tumor-associated antigens, mucin-1 (MUC1). The site-specific modification of HBc VLPs not only improves the immunogenicity of MUC1 antigens but also shields the immunogenicity of HBc VLPs themselves, thereby activating a strong and persistent anti-MUC1 immune response even in the presence of preexisting anti-HBc immunity, which results in the efficient tumor elimination in a lung metastatic mouse model. Together, these results demonstrate the site-specific modification strategy enabled HBc VLPs behave as a potent antitumor vaccine and this strategy to manipulate immunogenicity of VLPs may be suitable for other VLP-based vaccine vectors.

Automated summary

This study presents a site-specific modification method for hepatitis B core (HBc) VLPs to enhance their immunogenicity as a potent antitumor vaccine. By incorporating azido-phenylalanine at the main immune region, the modified HBc VLPs could effectively assemble with tumor-associated antigens and activate a strong anti-tumor immune response even in the presence of preexisting immunity. These findings demonstrate the potential of this site-specific modification strategy for other VLP-based vaccine vectors.