Vaccination has been one of the most successful breakthroughs in medical history. In recent years, epitope-based subunit vaccines have been introduced as a safer alternative to traditional vaccines. However, they suffer from limited immunogenicity. Nanotechnology has shown value in solving this issue. Different kinds of nanovaccines have been employed, among which virus-like nanoparticles (VLPs) and self-assembled peptide nanoparticles (SAPNs) seem very promising. Recently, SAPNs have attracted special interest due to their unique properties, including molecular specificity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. They also resemble pathogens in terms of their size. Their multivalency allows an orderly repetitive display of antigens on their surface, which induces a stronger immune response than single immunogens. In vaccine design, SAPN self-adjuvanticity is regarded an outstanding advantage, since the use of toxic adjuvants is no longer required. SAPNs are usually composed of helical or β-sheet secondary structures and are tailored from natural peptides or de novo structures. Flexibility in subunit selection opens the door to a wide variety of molecules with different characteristics. SAPN engineering is an emerging area, and more novel structures are expected to be generated in the future, particularly with the rapid progress in related computational tools. The aim of this review is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of self-assembled peptide nanoparticles and their use in vaccine design in recent studies. Additionally, principles for their design and the application of computational approaches to vaccine design are summarized.

疫苗接种一直是医学史上最成功的突破之一。近年来，基于表位的亚单位疫苗已被引入作为传统疫苗的更​​安全替代品。但是，它们具有有限的免疫原性。纳米技术已显示出解决这一问题的价值。已经使用了不同种类的纳米疫苗，其中病毒样纳米颗粒（VLP）和自组装肽纳米颗粒（SAPN）看起来非常有前途。最近，SAPN由于其独特的特性（包括分子特异性，生物可降解性和生物相容性）而引起了人们的特殊兴趣。它们的大小也类似于病原体。它们的多重价允许在其表面上有序地重复显示抗原，这比单个免疫原诱导更强的免疫反应。在疫苗设计中 SAPN自佐剂被认为是一个突出的优势，因为不再需要使用有毒佐剂。SAPN通常由螺旋或β-折叠二级结构组成，并且是根据天然肽或从头开始的结构。亚基选择的灵活性为各种具有不同特征的分子打开了大门。SAPN工程是一个新兴领域，并且随着相关计算工具的迅速发展，预计将来会产生更多新颖的结构。这篇综述的目的是提供自组装肽纳米颗粒的最新发展概况，以及它们在最近研究中在疫苗设计中的用途。另外，总结了它们的设计原理以及计算方法在疫苗设计中的应用。