Innovative applications of bionanocapsule derived from hepatitis B virus

Bionanocapsules (BNCs), hollow nanoparticles derived from the hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface L protein, originated from HB vaccine development and have evolved into a versatile biotechnological platform. Evolving from the first-generation S antigen vaccine, we developed second-generation (M antigen) and third-generation (L antigen) vaccines with enhanced protective efficacy, the latter giving rise to BNCs. BNCs retain the human liver-specific infection machinery of HBV and exhibit stealth, targeting, and endosomal escape abilities as a drug delivery system (DDS). Furthermore, BNCs have been applied to re-targeting via antibody display and as nanoscaffolds for high-sensitivity biosensors, resulting in breakthroughs across DDS, infection-mechanism elucidation, and biosensing technologies.