- Scientists at the Institute of Advanced Virology (IAV) at Thonnakkal have developed a novel way of generating non-infectious Nipah virus-like particles (VLPs) in the laboratory, which mimic the wild-type Nipah Virus (NiV).
- It offers a safe and effective alternative platform for developing neutralising antibodies against the NiV in a biosafety level-2 (BSL) laboratory.
- One step closer to developing monoclonal antibodies and anti-virals against the NiV and similar pathogens.
- The zoonotic virus Nipah is a highly pathogenic paramyxovirus, with a fatality rate of up to 80% in affected humans.
- Research studies have been limited because of the extreme level of biosafety precautions required for handling this BSL-4 pathogen.
- Virus neutralisation is critical for the development and evaluation of vaccines and immunotherapeutics, and for conducting basic research into the immune response and pathogenesis of NiV.
- It removed the requirement of high-security labs.
Virus-Like Particles (VLPs)
- The VLPs closely resemble viruses, but are non-infectious.
- Effective quantitative platform for studying viral binding and entry kinetics of the virus.
- The advent of NanoBiT technology and “HiBiT-tagged” VLP (HiBiT is an 11 amino acid peptide) makes it sophisticated.
- The genome of the NiV encodes 6 major proteins: glycoprotein (G), fusion protein (F), matrix (M), nucleocapsid (N), long polymerase (L) and phosphoprotein (P).
- It used plasmid-based expression systems encoding the structural protein G, F, and M.
Dig Deeper: What is the difference between a virus and a viroid?
