Cowpea Mosaic Virus Nanoparticles and Empty Virus-Like Particles Show Distinct but Overlapping Immunostimulatory Properties

Abstract

The engagement of antiviral effector responses caused by viral infection is essential when using viruses or virus-like particles (VLPs) as an immunotherapeutic agent. Here, we compare the chemophysical and immunostimulatory properties of wild-type cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) (RNA containing) and eCPMV (RNA-free VLPs) produced from two expression systems (agrobacterium-based plant expression system and baculovirus-insect cell expression). CPMV and eCPMV could each be developed as novel adjuvants to overcome immunosuppression and thus promote tumor regression in ovarian cancer (and other tumor types). To our knowledge, this is the first study to define the immunotherapeutic differences between CPMV and eCPMV, which is essential for the further development of biomedical applications for plant viruses and the selection of rational combinations of immunomodulatory reagents.