Using nucleoside modified mRNAs in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNP) as a vaccine for COVID-19 may successfully predict a new era of vaccine development. For HIV-1, polyvalent enveloped trimer protein nanoparticles may be used as an important immunogen to stimulate broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) B cell lines compared with single trimers. However, the success of complex multivalent nanoparticles carrying mRNAs has not been achieved. Recently, in a study titled “mRNA-encoded HIV-1 Env trimer ferritin nanoparticles induce monoclonal antibodies that neutralize heterologous HIV-1 isolates in mice” published in the international journal Cell Reports, scientists from Duke University School of Medicine and other institutions successfully developed a way to transport potential HIV vaccines using an mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
In the article, the researchers describe important advances in the development of this complex vaccine, the method of which may work by using mRNAs in lipid nanoparticles that stimulate HIV antibodies. Barton Haynes, MD, said, “We now have a practical platform to produce a complex HIV vaccine. This mRNA technology is very successful in COVID-19 treatment and prevention, and researchers have previously found that it may also be effective in the development of the Zika virus vaccine. Though HIV is much more complex, this is still an important step forward for scientists.”
Researcher Barton Haynes said that mRNAs can use genetic material to promote immune cells to recognize targeted pathogens, and they may be able to encode complex antigens that are very important for HIV vaccine development. HIV that causes AIDS mutates rapidly, but some sites in the adventitia remain unchanged in the middle of continuous change. A successful vaccine requires proteins with a perfect structure targeting these sites to initiate the host immune response, which was a technical obstacle faced by vaccine development technology in the past. For this reason, in this study, the researchers developed an mRNA vaccine that can encode key mutations and monoclonal antibodies that can neutralize a variety of different HIV strains.
The researchers believe that the new mRNA vaccine platform that can help slow the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the resulting death may also protect the body from HIV infection. These remarkable research results may mark the arrival of a new era of mRNA research and are crucial to improving human health.
Researcher Haynes said, “Large-scale production of complex nanoparticle protein immunogens may pose great challenges for scientists, so we are encouraged that the use of mRNA may increase the possibility that this complex immunization strategy may be logically implemented and may be cost-effective.
In summary, the results of this study show that mRNA-LNP can help encode complex immunogens, which may be the basis for the design of germline targeting and sequentially enhanced immunogens to develop new HIV-1 vaccines.