| abstract |
The field of the invention refers to chimeric Virus Like Particles (VLP) derived from Birnavirus chimeric VP2 protein. In particular, the invention refers to chimeric VP2 fusion proteins which incorporate insertions and/or substitutions with one or more amino acids or particular peptide of interest while maintaining the capacity to assemble in the form of VLP. The invention identifies particular insertion and/or substitutions sites within VP2 P loop regions and outside said P loop regions. The invention also incorporates methods for the identification of preferred insertion and substitution sites within VP2 for the incorporation of particular amino acids and peptides of interest. The resulting chimeric VLP are of interest in the design of therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines as well as in the design of drug delivery systems, carriers for DNA and RNA in gene therapy, as targeted agents, in the development of antitoxins, and as diagnostic reagents. |