ABSTRACT Several nanoparticles are currently being developed for applications in biomedicine and it is predictable that they will assume a prominent role in therapy and diagnosis. The use of virus-like particles (VLPs) in these fields offers great advantages. VLPs are not only biocompatible and biodegradable, but they are also non-infectious self-assembling systems, that can be produced in large scale in a short time, and their basic structure can be engineered not only to carry proteins, drugs or imaging reagents but also programmed so that the external surface can be modified with targeting ligands to allow cell-specific delivery. VLPs are thus promising platforms to deliver therapeutics or imaging reagents to precise locations, allowing treatments with high drug doses and minimal adverse effects or producing high-contrast diagnostic images. A wide range of VLPs is currently available, under development or optimization and each platform can be tailored for different applications. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art of targeted VLPs engineering, and discusses recent advances in the design, applications, limitations and future perspectives of VLPs as medical platforms for the delivery of next-generation therapeutics, drugs or imaging agents.
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