Nano-multilamellar Lipid Vesicles Promote the Induction of SARS-CoV-2 Immune Responses by a Protein-based Vaccine Formulation

The development of safe and effective vaccine formulations against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents a hallmark in the history of vaccines. Here we report a COVID-19 subunit vaccine based on a SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) incorporated into nano-multilamellar vesicles (NMV) associated with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA). The results based on immunization of C57BL/6 mice demonstrated that recombinant antigen incorporation into NMVs improved antibody and T-cell responses without inducing toxic effects under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. Administration of RBD-NMV-MPLA formulations modulated antigen avidity and IgG subclass responses, whereas MPLA incorporation improved the activation of CD4/CD8 T-cell responses. In addition, immunization with the complete vaccine formulation reduced the number of doses required to achieve enhanced serum virus-neutralizing antibody titers. Overall, this study highlights NMV/MPLA technology, displaying the performance improvement of subunit vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, as well as other infectious diseases.

Citing Articles

Enhanced Immunogenicity and Protective Effects against SARS-CoV-2 Following Immunization with a Recombinant RBD-IgG Chimeric Protein.

Silva M, Castro-Amarante M, Venceslau-Carvalho A, Almeida B, Daher I, Souza-Silva G Vaccines (Basel). 2024; 12(4).

PMID: 38675739 PMC: 11054318. DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12040356.

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