Inclusion of a retroviral protease enhances the immunogenicity of VLP-forming mRNA vaccines against HIV-1 or SARS-CoV-2 in mice

• Published in: Science translational medicine Vol. 17; no. 796; p. eadt9576
• Main Authors: Zhang, Peng, Singh, Mamta, Becker, Vada A, Croft, Jacob, Tsybovsky, Yaroslav, Gopan, Vinay, Seo, Yuna, Liu, Qingbo, Rogers, Denise, Miao, Huiyi, Lin, Yin, Rogan, Daniel, Shields, Courtney, Elbashir, Sayda M, Calabrese, Samantha, Renzi, Isabella, Preznyak, Vladimir, Narayanan, Elizabeth, Stewart-Jones, Guillaume, Himansu, Sunny, Connors, Mark, Lee, Kelly, Carfi, Andrea, Lusso, Paolo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 30.04.2025
• Subjects: AIDS Vaccines - immunology; Animals; Antibodies, Neutralizing - immunology; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; COVID-19 - immunology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 Vaccines - immunology; Female; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - prevention & control; HIV-1 - immunology; Humans; Immunogenicity, Vaccine; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; mRNA Vaccines - immunology; Peptide Hydrolases - metabolism; Retroviridae - enzymology; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - immunology; SARS-CoV-2 - immunology; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle - genetics; Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle - immunology
• ISSN: 1946-6242
• DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adt9576

Messenger RNA (mRNA) has emerged as a highly effective and versatile platform for vaccine delivery. We previously designed a virus-like particle (VLP)-forming mRNA vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) that elicited envelope-specific neutralizing antibodies and protection from heter...