| Autor: |
Zhu J; Bacteriophage Medical Research Center, Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA; email: zhuj@cua.edu, rao@cua.edu., Tao P; State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China., Chopra AK; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, and Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA., Rao VB; Bacteriophage Medical Research Center, Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA; email: zhuj@cua.edu, rao@cua.edu. |
| Abstrakt: |
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed vaccinology. Rapid deployment of mRNA vaccines has saved countless lives. However, these platforms have inherent limitations including lack of durability of immune responses and mucosal immunity, high cost, and thermal instability. These and uncertainties about the nature of future pandemics underscore the need for exploring next-generation vaccine platforms. Here, we present a novel protein-based, bacteriophage T4 platform for rapid design of efficacious vaccines against bacterial and viral pathogens. Full-length antigens can be displayed at high density on a 120 × 86 nm phage capsid through nonessential capsid binding proteins Soc and Hoc. Such nanoparticles, without any adjuvant, induce robust humoral, cellular, and mucosal responses when administered intranasally and confer sterilizing immunity. Combined with structural stability and ease of manufacture, T4 phage provides an excellent needle-free, mucosal pandemic vaccine platform and allows equitable vaccine access to low- and middle-income communities across the globe. |
