Conjugation of Mannans to Enhance the Potency of Liposome Nanoparticles for the Delivery of RNA Vaccines

Recent approval of mRNA vaccines to combat COVID-19 have highlighted the potential of this platform. Lipid nanoparticles (LNP) is the delivery vehicle of choice for mRNA as they prevent its enzymatic degradation by encapsulation. We have recently shown that surface exposition of mannose, incorporated in LNPs as stable cholesterol-amine conjugate, enhances the potency of self-amplifying RNA (SAM) replicon vaccines through augmented uptake by antigen presenting cells (APCs). Here, we generated a new set of LNPs whose surface was modified with mannans of different length (from mono to tetrasaccharide), in order to study the effect on antibody response of model SAM replicon encoding for the respiratory syncytial virus fusion F protein. Furthermore, the impact of the mannosylated liposomal delivery through intradermal as well as intramuscular routes was investigated. The vaccine priming response showed to improve consistently with increase in the chain length of mannoses; however, the booster dose response plateaued above the length of disaccharide. An increase in levels of IgG1 and IgG2a was observed for mannnosylated lipid nanoparticles (MLNPs) as compared to LNPs. This work confirms the potential of mannosylated SAM LNPs for both intramuscular and intradermal delivery, and highlights a disaccharide length as sufficient to ensure improved immunogenicity compared to the un-glycosylated delivery system.

Automated summary

The study revealed that surface exposition of mannose on lipid nanoparticles enhances the potency of RNA vaccines by increasing uptake by antigen presenting cells. Furthermore, increasing the chain length of mannose improved the vaccine's immune response, with a plateau observed at a disaccharide length.