Structure-guided design of bacteriophage Qβ mutants as next-generation carriers for conjugate vaccines (ACS Chemical Biology)

Study in ACS Chemical Biology designing structure-guided mutants of bacteriophage Qβ (mQβ) as carriers for conjugate vaccines. Conjugated to tumour-associated carbohydrate antigens, mQβ elicited strong anti-TACA IgG with lower anti-carrier antibody levels than wild-type Qβ; in a mouse breast cancer therapeutic model 80% of immunised mice were tumour-free while all unimmunised mice succumbed within 12 days. The mQβ conjugate also induced IgG against SARS-CoV-2 peptide antigens.