All vaccines, including those for infectious diseases and malignancies, will be developed according to a new devised plan. According to a press release, scientists at Northwestern University's International Institute of Nanotechnology have discovered a new way to increase the effectiveness of almost every vaccine.
The structural positions of adjuvants, a stimulant that increases the potency of the antigen, and of antigens that target the immune system, on and inside a nanoscale vaccine have been changed using chemistry and nanotechnology, significantly increasing the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The study's blueprint can now be used to redesign entire vaccines and improve outcomes for seven different types of cancer.
Lead investigator Chad A. Mirkin, director of IIN, said in a press release that the study "shows that not only the components but also the vaccine structure is a crucial element in determining vaccine efficacy."
The position and arrangement of antigens and adjuvants within a single design significantly changes how the immune system detects and responds to them.
The vaccine structure that Mirkan and his team emphasize has the potential to increase the effectiveness of traditional cancer vaccines.
Mirkin's team has so far investigated this effect in seven different types of cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer, papillomavirus-induced cervical cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, and prostate cancer, in an effort to “identify the most effective architecture to treat each disease.”
According to Mirkin, intercellular communication, cross-talk, and cell synergy increase significantly with even minor changes to antigen positioning on a vaccine. “The advances made in this study offer a way to rethink the design of vaccines for cancer and other diseases as a whole,” the authors write.
The antigen and adjuvant are mixed together and administered to the patient with conventional vaccines. As a result, the structural control of the vaccine is completely lost.
According to study author and former Northwestern postdoctoral fellow Michelle Teplensky, now an assistant professor at Boston University, the problem with traditional vaccines is that "an immune cell can get 50 antigens and an adjuvant or an antigen and 50 adjuvant from this mixed mixture." But for vaccination to be as successful as possible, there must be a perfect balance between each.
Global nucleic acids (SNAs), a structural platform used in this new class of modular vaccines, were created by Mirkan as a solution to the problem. SNAs allow researchers to determine the precise amount of antigen and adjuvants delivered to cells. The platform also helps researchers process and customize vaccine parts.
According to the press release, the team has restructured the vaccine's architecture to include multiple targets to help the immune system find tumor cells, creating a new cancer vaccine that "doubles the number of cancer antigen-specific T cells and increases their activation by 30%."
The researchers examined how the position of the two antigens in the SNA structure affected how well the immune system identifies them.
According to Mirkin, the location and arrangement of antigens and adjuvants within a single architectural design has a significant impact on how the immune system perceives and processes them.
Vaccine architectures using modular antigen and adjuvant placement are known as “modular vaccines,” and Mirkan coined the term “rational vaccine science” to describe this method. Mirkan claimed that each immune cell receives exactly the same amount of antigens and adjuvants from vaccines created using rational immunology, so that they are all equally prepared to attack cancer cells.
In numerous animal models, the modified vaccine stopped the growth of tumors
The study's findings ultimately showed that the most effective strategy for a cancer vaccine construct involved combining two different antigens into an SNA with an adjuvant shell. It increased antigen-specific T cell activation by 30% and the number of proliferating T cells by 80%, compared to a construct where the same two antigens bind to two different SNAs.
It has been discovered that these modified SNA nanostructures can inhibit tumorigenesis in various animal models.
Mirkin said it was surprising. “The therapeutic advantage against cancers changes drastically when antigens are inserted into two vaccines that are nearly equivalent in composition. One is powerful and valuable, while the other vaccine is much less effective.”
“The overall significance of this research, according to Teplensky, is that it provides a framework for the creation of the most effective cancer vaccines. It requires a rethinking of the process by which all vaccines are developed, including those for communicable diseases.”
Source: interestingengineering
Günceleme: 01/02/2023 14:32
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