Protein nanocages have attracted considerable attention in various fields of nanomedicine due to their intrinsic properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, high structural stability, and ease of modification of their surfaces and inner cavities. In vaccine development, these protein nanocages are suited for efficient targeting to and retention in the lymph nodes and can enhance immunogenicity through various mechanisms, including excellent uptake by antigen-presenting cells and crosslinking with multiple B cell receptors. This review highlights the superiority of protein nanocages as antigen delivery carriers based on their physiological and immunological properties such as biodistribution, immunogenicity, stability, and multifunctionality. With a focus on design, we discuss the utilization and efficacy of protein nanocages such as virus-like particles, caged proteins, and artificial caged proteins against cancer and infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In addition, we summarize available knowledge on the protein nanocages that are currently used in clinical trials and provide a general outlook on conventional distribution techniques and hurdles faced, particularly for therapeutic cancer vaccines. Pt-based hollow nanocrystals have shown an astonishing performance toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) because of their open structures, high surface areas and large Pt atom utilization. However, the careful geometric control of hollow nanocrystals is still not easy. Here, a facile template-free method was reported for the synthesis of ultrathin-wall PtCu nanocages with small islands on the surface (U–PtCu NCs). Moreover, the wall thickness of nanocages and the density of islands were well-tuned by controlling the experiment conditions. In the end, the novel hollow structures with abundant defects as well as the synergistic interaction between Pt and Cu elements endowed U–PtCu NCs with enhanced ORR activity. Specifically, its mass activity was 0.36 A mg⁻¹ and its specific activity was 0.71 mA cm⁻², which were about 4.2 and 7.1 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C. In addition, the enhanced stability was proved by the accelerated durability test of 10 000 cycles.

Visit for more related articles at Nano Research and Applications

Kindly submit your article through Editorial Tracking or through editor.nanoresearch@jpeerreview.com

With Regards
Jenny
Journal Co-ordinator
Journal of Nano Research & Applications