Figure 8. . Schematic depicting the application of chimeric hepatitis E virus-virus-like particles as nanocarriers for drug delivery.

The periodicity of the capsid, the presence of surface-accessible amino acids with reactive moieties, and the tolerance of a single-chain version of the capsid protein dimer to diverse peptide insertions enable dense, repetitive display of targeting ligands either by chemical conjugation or genetic insertion, and display of aptamers or glycoproteins by chemical conjugation. HEV VLPs also possess relatively large interior volumes that can be loaded with a variety of materials, including DNA plasmids. In comparison with other VLPs, HEV VLPs possess strong structural plasticity, with a stability switch sensitive to calcium concentration.

HEV: Hepatitis E virus; Mal: Maleimide; VLP: Virus-like particle; WT: Wild-type.