New method for nasal vaccine delivery may lead to better HIV and COVID-19 vaccines

An assistant professor at the University of Minnesota is part of a team that has developed a new way to efficiently deliver vaccines through nasal mucosal tissue for better protection against pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2.

Researchers tested the technology in mice and non-human primates and found that the vaccine produced a strong immune response, paving the way for this technology to be used for further research and development of nasal vaccines.

The study was published in

Science Translational Medicine .

Historically, nasal vaccines – will be delivered via nebulizer or Aerosol Administration – Difficult to manufacture successfully. The mucus in the nose normally clears or breaks down components of the vaccine, such as protein antigens, before it can enter the underlying tissues to activate the body’s immune cells.

However, nasal vaccines have the potential to generate more immunity than current vaccines given by needle. That’s because for many diseases spread through the upper respiratory system, such as COVID-19, nasal vaccines have the potential to trigger an immune response in the exact areas of infection — the nose, mouth, and lungs. Some nasal vaccines do exist, but most use live attenuated pathogens and cannot be given to immunocompromised individuals.

“Traditionally injected vaccines are generally not suitable for building immunity in these mucosal tissues,” said lead author of the paper, Minnesota Brittany Hartwell, assistant professor in the University’s Twin Cities Department of Biomedical Engineering, explained. “They’re more inclined to build immunity in the blood — kind of like a backup defense. But the idea of ​​building immunity in mucosal areas like the nose is that it builds more of a front-line defense that’s better at preventing the spread of these diseases.”

Hartwell said that with the new vaccine, not only did they build a robust mucosal antibody response, but they Also activated a very strong antibody response in the blood.

“So, it’s kind of like we’re building front and back defenses at the same time,” she said. They create barriers in the nose by designing them to bind to a protein called albumin, which is naturally present in the body and has the ability to bypass these barriers. The antigens can then effectively “hitch-ride” on albumin to their destination — the immune tissue under the nose — to start activating an immune response.

Also, the researchers’ vaccine was shown to produce immunity not only in the nose, but also in other mucosal tissues of the body Immunity is also produced including the upper respiratory system, lungs and genitourinary tract. The latter is particularly relevant to vaccination against viruses such as HIV, which are spread through these sites.

“This is really important for the mucosal vaccination field,” Hartwell said. “It shows something new that we have engineered a vaccine that overcomes the delivery barriers that have historically plagued the development of other mucosal vaccines. This is especially important now that we are all living with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The midst of a pandemic affects our lives. As long as there is transmission and transmission, viruses have the opportunity to evolve into new variants that can be harmful. This research suggests that developing a slightly different vaccine could provide better treatments than we currently do by blocking spread and prevent us from catching the virus and passing it on to others.”

Hartwell is continuing research and is in her The new vaccine technology is being developed in the lab at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and hopes to adapt it to other diseases in the future.