A microneedle-based delivery system for broad-protection seasonal influenza A DNA nanovaccines
Liangliang Wang, Li Yang, Feng Zhang, Xuejie Liu, Qian Xie, Qingyun Liu, Lifang Yuan, Tianyi Zhao, Sidian Xie, Qiuyi Xu, Wudi Zhou, Lin Mei, Huacheng Yan, Xiaowei Zeng, Yuelong Shu
Abstract
Seasonal influenza A viruses continue to pose a public health threat, and current vaccines are not sufficiently effective because of virus mutation. There is an urgent need to develop a broad-protection influenza A vaccine. Our team previously designed potential universal hemagglutinin (HA) sequences against seasonal influenza A H1N1 and H3N2 (mH1 and mH3, respectively) through a mosaic strategy. In this study, we construct DNA vaccines by linking the antigens mH1 and mH3 via internal ribosome entry sites and then wrap the DNA with the deoxycholic acid-modified polyetherimide to form DNA nanovaccines. A microneedle is used to deliver DNA nanovaccines, and the data show that better cellular and cross-reactivity and protective immunity are induced compared with the intramuscular injection method. These results suggest that microneedle-based delivery of DNA nanovaccines could be a promising platform for development of a broad-protection influenza vaccine.