**6. Conclusions**

As a nanocarrier, HEVNP is a structure that can display multiple epitopes on its surface; and simultaneously it can deliver a payload, for example, an epitope encoding nucleotide sequence, peptide, or small molecule. Unlike nanoparticles generated from polymers, lipids, nanotubes, or other carriers, HEVNP delivers epitopes and payload through the mucosa of the GI tract without the need for any, potentially deleterious, exogenous enhancers such as a mucosal breakdown enzyme, pH regulator, or uptake cofactor. The key characteristics that make HEVNP an ideal and unique vehicle for vaccine delivery include: (i) *Surface plasticity*. Sites on the P domain can be engineered for site-specific attachment or insertion of the epitope(s). Even when the surface of HEVNP is genetically or chemically modified, the core structure of HEVNP remains intact. (ii) *GI tract stability*. Even when surface modified, HEVNP is stable to the harsh conditions of low pH and proteolytic enzymes that are found in the GI tract. This allows HEVNP to deliver epitopes orally. HEVNP has the capability to penetrate the mucosal lining of the entire GI tract and other mucosa-lined cavities or organs and directly target cells of the basement membrane. (iii) *Significant payload capacity*. The large hollow core of HEVNP can package and protect large biological molecules including DNA and RNA. (iv) *Platform sustainability*. Immune recognition of the carrier platform is negated with HEVNP. The surface P domain carries the primary antigenic sites of HEV (and HEVNP). Thus, modification of the P domain by chemical conjugation or genetic insertion of a vaccine epitope completely neutralizes endogenous immunogenicity

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*A Noninvasive, Orally Stable, Mucosa-Penetrating Polyvalent Vaccine Platform Based…*

against HEVNP carrier platform. In addition, the HEVNP nanocarrier platform can overcome many of the drawbacks of other nanocarrier platforms including issues with (1) formulation, (2) production, (3) safety, (4) cold chain distribution, (5)

This work was partially supported by grant from the National Institutes of Health (AI095382, EB21230, and CA198880) and National Institute of Food and

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86830*

target selectivity, and (6) signal amplification.

Agriculture. RHC is a Finland distinguished professor.

, Mo A. Baikoghli1

\*Address all correspondence to: rhch@ucdavis.edu

provided the original work is properly cited.

, Luis M. de la Maza2

1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis,

2 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California,

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

and R. Holland Cheng1

\*

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

None.

**Author details**

Shizuo G. Kamita1

California, USA

Irvine, California, USA

*A Noninvasive, Orally Stable, Mucosa-Penetrating Polyvalent Vaccine Platform Based… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86830*

against HEVNP carrier platform. In addition, the HEVNP nanocarrier platform can overcome many of the drawbacks of other nanocarrier platforms including issues with (1) formulation, (2) production, (3) safety, (4) cold chain distribution, (5) target selectivity, and (6) signal amplification.
