VLPs

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are biopharmaceuticals designed to mimic true viruses with potential applications against various diseases such as viral and bacterial infections including Hepatitis B, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and autoimmune disorders. These virus-derived molecules are custom designed to express specific antigens on their surface that elicit an immune response from T and B-cells. Unlike AAVs, they do not contain a payload that must be delivered, but rather are useful in their ability to cause both cell-based and antibody-based immune responses. By affecting the immune system in multiple ways, these molecules have become legitimate candidates in the study and development of vaccines, preventive medicines, and targeted drug and gene therapies. VLPs withstand most environmental stresses and can be produced inexpensively.  Like viruses, VLPs are assemblies of one or several types of capsid proteins forming a higher order structure. As a result, analytical characterization of these biopharmaceuticals usually includes quantification of the viral-like protein content, stability and reproducibility measurements as well as higher order structural analysis to verify formation of the assemblies.  As a result, spectroscopic analytical tools including IR spectroscopy have long been employed to characterize these biomolecules.