A group from Center for Coronavirus Research, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, USA, etc. has developed a novel SARS-CoV-2 virus-like nanoparticle vaccine.
https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1009897
A lumazine synthase nanoparticle protein containing a N-terminal protein A tag was used as a structural scaffold of virus-like nanoparticle (VLP) vaccine. The size of nanoparticle was about 15nm in diameter. Then, a complex of the VLP nanoparticle and SARS-CoV-2 RBD (containing a C-terminal Fc tag) was formed as the VLP vaccine. This design of the VLP vaccine allowed 60 copies of Fc-tagged dimeric SARS-CoV-2 RBD, corresponding to 120 copies of SARS-CoV-2 RBD.
Authors has reported that this VLP vaccine induced high-titer neutralizing antibody responses in mice that lasted >2 months and potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and their variants(α, β, and γ variants).