Improved influenza vaccine responses after expression of multiple viral glycoproteins from a single mRNA

Abstract

Influenza viruses cause substantial morbidity and mortality every year despite seasonal vaccination. mRNA-based vaccines have the potential to elicit more protective immune responses, but for maximal breadth and durability, it is desirable to deliver both the viral hemagglutinin and neuraminidase glycoproteins. Delivering multiple antigens individually, however, complicates manufacturing and increases cost, thus it would be beneficial to express both proteins from a single mRNA. Here, we develop an mRNA genetic configuration that allows the simultaneous expression of unmodified, full-length NA and HA proteins from a single open reading frame. We apply this approach to glycoproteins from contemporary influenza A and B viruses and, after vaccination, observe high levels of functional antibodies and protection from disease in female mouse and male ferret challenge models. This approach may further efforts to utilize mRNA technology to improve seasonal vaccine efficacy by efficiently delivering multiple viral antigens simultaneously and in their native state.

Here, the authors report the development of a genetic platform for mRNA-LNP vaccines that encodes the two major influenza virus glycoprotein genes into a single mRNA molecule. They show that this approach is generalizable to diverse influenza virus strains and is immunogenic and protective in mouse and ferret models of influenza disease.