Taylor Dispersion Analysis to support lipid-nanoparticle formulations for mRNA vaccines

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are currently the most advanced non-viral clinically approved messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) delivery systems. The ability of a mRNA vaccine to have a therapeutic effect is related to the capacity of LNPs to deliver the nucleic acid intact into cells. The role of LNPs is to protect mRNA, especially from degradation by ribonucleases (RNases) and to allow it to access the cytoplasm of cells where it can be translated into the protein of interest. LNPs enter cells by endocytosis and their size is a critical parameter impacting theft cellular internalization. In this work, we studied different formulation process parameters impacting LNPs size. Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) was used to determine the LNPs size and size distribution and the results were compared with those obtained by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). TDA was also used to study both the degradation of mRNA in the presence of RNases and the percentage of mRNA encapsulation within LNPs.

Automated summary

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are advanced non-viral mRNA delivery systems that protect and deliver mRNA to cells, allowing it to be translated into the desired protein. The size and formulation process parameters of LNPs play a critical role in cellular internalization. This study investigated the impact of different formulation process parameters on LNPs size and also examined mRNA degradation and encapsulation within LNPs.