Noninvasive visualization of the distribution and persistence of mRNA vaccine antigen expression in mammalian systems has implications for the development and evaluation of future mRNA vaccines. Here, we genetically fuse E. coli dihydrofolate reductase (eDHFR) to the delta furin diproline modified SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (S2P) mRNA vaccine and image its expression in female mice and male non-human primates using [F]fluoropropyl-trimethoprim ([F]FP-TMP). Whole body positron emission tomography (PET) imaging revealed transient expression of the vaccine antigen in the injection site and draining lymph nodes (dLNs). Fusion of eDHFR did not impact S2P immunogenicity and no humoral or cellular immune response was detected against eDHFR in either species. In this work, we show that eDHFR can be used as an mRNA-encoded PET reporter gene to monitor the spatiotemporal dynamics of mRNA vaccine antigen expression in vivo. This technique could be applied in clinical translation of future mRNA vaccines or therapeutics.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57446-w | DOI Listing |
ACS Nano
March 2025
Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany.
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are efficient and safe carriers for mRNA vaccines based on advanced ionizable lipids. It is understood that the pH-dependent structural transition of the mesoscopic LNP core phase plays a key role in mRNA transfer. However, buffer-specific variations in transfection efficiency remain obscure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Genet Eng Biotechnol
March 2025
Karachi Medical and Dental College, Pakistan. Electronic address:
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly lethal cancer with a five-year survival rate of just 7%. Its late diagnosis and limited treatment options contribute to poor outcomes. Immunotherapy has had little success due to PDAC's dense and immunosuppressive tumor environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Pharm
March 2025
Bioinformatics Center of AMMS, Beijing, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:
Traditional mRNA vaccine formulation loaded by lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) has several shortcomings in clinical application, including the need for cryopreservation, discomfort associated with intramuscular injections, and the risk of liver aggregation. Dissolvable microneedles (DMNs), as a novel transdermal drug delivery platform, can overcome the skin barrier to deliver drugs directly into the skin in a minimally invasive manner. However, mRNA-LNP is unstable and easily degraded during the solidification of DMN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Immunol
January 2025
Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Current influenza vaccines are not effective in conferring protection against antigenic variants and pandemics. To improve cross-protection of influenza vaccination, we developed a 5xM2e messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine encoding the tandem repeat conserved ectodomain (M2e) of ion channel protein M2 derived from human, swine, and avian influenza A viruses. The lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-encapsulated 5xM2e mRNA vaccine was immunogenic, eliciting high levels of M2e-specific IgG antibodies, IFN-γ+ T cells, T follicular helper cells, germinal center phenotypic B cells, and plasma cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Immunol
February 2025
Institute for Hepatology, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Several vaccines and immunization strategies, including inactivated vaccines, have proven effective in eliciting antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), providing an opportunity to characterize the antibody response. In this study, we investigated the monoclonal antibody responses elicited by wild-type SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccination compared to those elicited by natural infection and mRNA vaccination. The analysis showed that antibodies encoded by biased germline genes were shared between SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated and naturally infected individuals.
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