mRNA vaccines induce faster antibody responses to infections

Scientists in the United States and Germany recently compared the immune kinetics of mRNA-based vaccines with other types of vaccines, including DNA, protein and adenoviral vector-based vaccines.

Research published in journals vaccinationexplained that mRNA vaccines induce antigen-specific antibody responses within a very short period after immunization.

Background

Newer mRNA vaccines work by introducing small fragments of mRNA sequences specific to viral antigens into the body, which are then translated to produce viral antigens and induce virus-specific immune responses. These vaccines can be rapidly developed and produced, making them good candidates for controlling infectious disease outbreaks, including the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, two mRNA vaccines were developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. In both clinical trials and real-world conditions, these vaccines have shown high protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19.

In the current study, scientists compared the immune dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteinExpression of mRNA and DNA vaccines in mice. Furthermore, they compared the immune kinetics of mRNA, DNA, protein, and adenoviral vector vaccines developed against the envelope proteins of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1).

research design

The immune kinetics of mRNA- and DNA-based COVID-19 vaccines were determined by immunizing mice intradermally or intramuscularly.Both vaccines contain the SARS-CoV-2 full-length pre-fusion stabilized spike protein as a vaccine antigen.

Similarly, the immune kinetics of HIV-1 vaccines were determined by immunizing mice with different types of vaccines (mRNA, DNA, protein, and adenoviral vector vaccines) expressing the same envelope proteins of HIV-1. rice field.

Antibody response to mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

Estimation of spike-specific binding antibody responses revealed detectable serum titers 5 days after intradermal and intramuscular immunizations. However, antibody responses were relatively high after intradermal immunization. In contrast to mRNA vaccines, DNA vaccines failed to induce detectable antibody titers at this early time point.

Mice immunized with the DNA vaccine showed detectable antibody titers on day 14. However, the responses were lower than those induced by the mRNA vaccine. At this time point, the mRNA vaccine induced a dose-dependent antibody response regardless of the route of administration.

Antibody titers induced by mRNA and DNA vaccines became comparable 21 days after immunization.

Regarding neutralizing antibody responses, the findings revealed that both intradermal and intramuscular mRNA vaccination induced a detectable antispike Neutralizing antibody 5 days after immunization. Similar to binding antibody responses, the intradermal route of vaccination showed greater efficacy in inducing neutralizing antibody responses.

At 7 days post-immunization, the neutralizing antibody responses induced by the mRNA vaccine remained significantly higher than those induced by the DNA vaccine. Both antibody responses were comparable on day 21.

Innate immune response to mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

Innate immune responses to both mRNA and DNA COVID-19 vaccines were determined by measuring plasma levels of cytokines and chemokines at 5 and 24 hours after immunization.

Consequently, compared to DNA vaccines, mRNA vaccines induce significantly higher levels of cytokines involved in B cell proliferation and differentiation and antibody production, such as interleukin-5 (IL-5) and IL-6. It became clear.

Similarly, mRNA vaccines showed greater efficacy than DNA vaccines in inducing plasma levels of certain chemokines essential for antigen-presenting cell activation and maturation, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein-ɑ (MIP-1ɑ), MIP-1β, and interferon gamma-inducible protein 10 (IP-10).

Antibody response to mRNA HIV-1 vaccine

To obtain a generalized overview of the immunokinetics of mRNA vaccines, this study analyzed the immunogenicity of an mRNA HIV-1 vaccine and compared it with other types of anti-HIV vaccines.

Similar to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, the mRNA HIV-1 vaccine elicited strong antibody responses 5 days after intramuscular immunization. In contrast, other tested HIV-1 vaccines failed to induce detectable antibody titers at this time point.

Overall, antibody titers induced by DNA, protein, and adenoviral vector-based HIV-1 vaccines became comparable to those induced by mRNA vaccines only on day 21 post-immunization .

Significance of research

This study demonstrates that mRNA vaccines developed against SARS-CoV-2 and HIV-1 infections outperform other leading vaccine technologies in inducing rapid antibody responses against specific viral antigens. indicates that there is Detectable binding and neutralizing antibody responses can be seen as early as 5 days after mRNA vaccination.

Given these observations, scientists believe that mRNA-based vaccines may be more effective in controlling infectious disease outbreaks, and further studies are needed to determine the generalizability of these observations. It suggests that research is needed.