2. Academic Validation
  3. Effect of mRNA-LNP components of two globally-marketed COVID-19 vaccines on efficacy and stability

Effect of mRNA-LNP components of two globally-marketed COVID-19 vaccines on efficacy and stability

  • NPJ Vaccines. 2023 Oct 11;8(1):156. doi: 10.1038/s41541-023-00751-6.
Lizhou Zhang 1 2 3,  Kunal R More 4,  Amrita Ojha 4,  Cody B Jackson 5 6 4,  Brian D Quinlan 4,  Hao Li 5 6 4 7,  Wenhui He 5 6 4 8,  Michael Farzan 5 6 4 7 8,  Norbert Pardi 9,  Hyeryun Choe 10 11 12
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Infectious Disease, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. lizhou.zhang@childrens.harvard.edu.
  • 2 Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. lizhou.zhang@childrens.harvard.edu.
  • 3 Department of Immunology and Microbiology, UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, Jupiter, FL, USA. lizhou.zhang@childrens.harvard.edu.
  • 4 Department of Immunology and Microbiology, UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, Jupiter, FL, USA.
  • 5 Division of Infectious Disease, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 6 Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 7 Skaggs Graduate School, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
  • 8 Center For Integrated Solutions for Infectious Diseases, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  • 9 Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
  • 10 Division of Infectious Disease, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. hyeryun.choe@childrens.harvard.edu.
  • 11 Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. hyeryun.choe@childrens.harvard.edu.
  • 12 Department of Immunology and Microbiology, UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, Jupiter, FL, USA. hyeryun.choe@childrens.harvard.edu.
PMID: 37821446 DOI: 10.1038/s41541-023-00751-6
Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna successfully developed nucleoside-modified mRNA lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccines. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein expressed by those vaccines are identical in amino acid sequence, but several key components are distinct. Here, we compared the effect of ionizable lipids, untranslated regions (UTRs), and nucleotide composition of the two vaccines, focusing on mRNA delivery, antibody generation, and long-term stability. We found that the ionizable lipid, SM-102, in Moderna's vaccine performs better than ALC-0315 in Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine for intramuscular delivery of mRNA and antibody production in mice and long-term stability at 4 °C. Moreover, Pfizer-BioNTech's 5' UTR and Moderna's 3' UTR outperform their counterparts in their contribution to transgene expression in mice. We further found that varying N1-methylpseudouridine content at the wobble position of mRNA has little effect on vaccine efficacy. These findings may contribute to the further improvement of nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNP vaccines and therapeutics.

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