Golden nanorods mimic viruses
9 Jul 2013
A team of US researchers have successfully developed a technique to create vaccines using gold nanorods.
The vaccine, which mimics a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and induces an immune response, would be the first of its kind if it was to obtain a licence.
The research team, led by James Crowe, a Vanderbilt University professor, used the gold nanorods to effectively deliver the protein from the virus, which provokes the necessary immune response.
This platform could be used to develop experimental vaccines for virtually any virus
Previous efforts to obtain such results have fallen short as scientists have not been able to generate the antigen to the immune system, as Crowe’s team have achieved.
The team synthesised the gold nanorods 21nm wide and 57nm in length, which almost mirrors a natural RSV.
The RSV antigens bind strongly with the nanorods because of their surface chemistry - meaning the F proteins that cover the RSV surface are a near perfect match when coupled with the gold nanorods.
The US team were then able to introduce the coated nanorods to a sample of human dendritic cells, which help analyse and identify various infectious agents.
The research revealed that the protein-covered nanorods induced the release of a greater number of T-cells than when only using either F proteins or gold nanorods alone.
Crowe stated: “This study shows that we have developed methods for putting RSV F protein into exceptionally small particles and presenting it to immune cells in a format that physically mimics the virus.
“This platform could be used to develop experimental vaccines for virtually any virus, and in fact other larger microbes such as bacteria and fungi,” added Crowe.
