RNA-dependent assembly of chimeric antigen nanoparticles as an efficient H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine platform

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2021.102438
• Publication Date: 2021-07-10T15:07:10Z
• Authors: Jongkwan Lim; Yucheol Cheong; Young-Seok Kim; Wonil Chae; Beom Jeung Hwang; Jinhee Lee; Yo Han Jang; Young Hoon Roh; Sang-Uk Seo; Baik L. Seong
• Keywords: Heterologous; Docking (animal)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) pose a significant threat to human health, with high mortality rates, and require effective vaccines. We showed that, harnessed novel RNA-mediated chaperone function, hemagglutinin (HA) of H5N1 HPAIV could be displayed as an immunologically relevant conformation on self-assembled chimeric nanoparticles (cNP). A tri-partite monomeric antigen was designed including: i) RNA-interaction domain (RID) docking tag for RNA enable chaperna function (chaperna: + RNA), ii) globular head (gd) HA target antigen, iii) ferritin scaffold 24 mer-assembly. The immunization mice the (~46 nm) induced 25–30 fold higher neutralizing capacity antibody provided cross-protection from homologous heterologous lethal challenges. This study suggests that cNP assembly is conducive eliciting antibodies against conserved region in HA, providing potent broad protective efficacy.