A Synergistic Lipid Nanoparticle Encapsulating Mrna Shingles Vaccine Induces Potent Immune Responses and Protects Guinea Pigs from Viral Challenges.

Shingles is caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV) and manifests as painful skin rashes. While the recombinant protein-based vaccine has proven highly effective, it encounters supply chain challenges due to a shortage of the necessary adjuvant. Messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccines can be rapidly produced on a large scale, but their effectiveness relies on efficient delivery and sequence design. Here, we have developed an mRNA-based VZV vaccine using a synergistic lipid nanoparticle (Syn-LNP) containing two different ionizable lipids. Syn-LNP showed superior mRNA expression compared to LNPs formulated with either type of ionizable lipid and to a commercialized LNP. After encapsulating VZV glycoprotein E (gE)-encoding mRNA, mgE@Syn-LNP induced robust humoral and cellular immune responses in two strains of mice. The magnitude of these responses is similar to that induced by adjuvanted recombinant gE proteins and significantly higher than that observed with live-attenuated VZV. mgE@Syn-LNP exhibits durable humoral responses for over seven months without obvious adverse effects. In addition, mgE@Syn-LNP protects vaccinated guinea pigs against live VZV challenges. Preliminary studies on the mRNA antigen design revealed that the removal of glycosylation sites of gE greatly reduced its immune responses. Collectively, Syn-LNP encapsulating gE-encoded mRNA holds great promise as a shingles vaccine. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.