In Vivo Iterative Adjuvant Screening Identifies an Intranasal Vaccine Formulation for Elicitation of Protective Mucosal Immune Responses Against SARS-CoV-2.

ABSTRACT: Background: Intranasal (I.N.) vaccination holds promise to elicit mucosal immunity that counters respiratory pathogens at the site of infection. For subunit protein vaccines, immunostimulatory adjuvants are typically required. Methods: We screened a panel of 22 lipid-phase adjuvants to identify which ones elicited antigen-specific IgA with I.N. immunization of liposome-displayed SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD). Results: Initial screening showed the TLR-4 agonist Kdo2-Lipid A (KLA) effectively elicited RBD-specific IgA. A second round of screening identified further inclusion of the invariant NKT cell ligands α-Galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) and its synthetic analog 7DW8-5 as complementary adjuvants for I.N. immunization, resulting in orders-of-magnitude-greater

SUBMITTER: Jiao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12655344 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature