Utilizzo di Nicotiana benthamiana per lo sviluppo sostenibile di strategie di controllo della leishmaniosi canina basate su nanoparticelle virali vegetali
Author(s)
Imperatori, Francesca
Date Issued
May 30, 2014
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Plants are a competitive system compared to traditional suspension culture based technologies such as
mammalian, microbial and insect cells, because they are safe, scalable and economic and their use
guarantees sustainability and environmental compatibility. During the last decades, especially for vaccine
design, plants have been employed as biofactories for the production of antigens or for the replication of
chimeric plant virus nanoparticles (CVNPs) used as carriers of peptide immunogens. Plant viruses bear
proper dimensions for nanoscale applications and are structurally uniform, biodegradable, robust and easy
to produce.
For these reasons, at the beginning, the development, characterization and optimization of a TBSV based
nanovector have been realized. This multivalent platform can be functionalized genetically and/or
chemically in order to modify the external surface of virions or can be used for the encapsulation of small
molecules in the internal cavity of VNPs. The analyses conducted using an Atomic Force Microscopy
have demonstrated that TBSV-VNPs are highly stable and can be permanently deformed without fracture,
underlining their potentiality as nanocontainers. Moreover, this system has been very promising for
biomedical applications concerning the development of sustainable control strategies for canine
leishmaniasis. CVNPs displaying a chimeric peptide constituted by the fusion of two heterologous
peptides derived from GP63 metalloprotease, crosslinked or administered with BCG adjuvant, have been
able to induce immune responses, suggesting a possible vaccine protection in mice. CVNPs displaying
antimicrobial peptides with leishmanicidal activity have been also realized to be employed for direct
Leishmania protozoa inactivation.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Scienze e tecnologie per la gestione forestale e ambientale
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