Virus-like particles as universal influenza vaccines

Current influenza vaccines are primarily targeted to induce immunity to the influenza virus strain-specific hemagglutinin antigen and are not effective in controlling outbreaks of new pandemic viruses. An approach for developing universal vaccines is to present highly conserved antigenic epitopes in an immunogenic conformation such as virus-like particles (VLPs) together with an adjuvant to enhance the vaccine immunogenicity. In this review, the authors focus on conserved antigenic targets and molecular adjuvants that were presented in VLPs. Conserved antigenic targets that include the hemagglutinin stalk domain, the external domain of influenza M2 and neuraminidase are discussed in addition to molecular adjuvants that are engineered to be incorporated into VLPs in a membrane-anchored form.