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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Assessment of the immunogenicity of classic and self-amplifying RNA-based antiviral therapeutics for influenza
1 Sirius University of Science and Technology, Sirius, Russia
2 Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow, Russia
Correspondence should be addressed: Vasiliy V. Reshetnikov
Olimpiysky prospekt, 1, Sochi, 354340; Russia; e-mail: ur.hepsuitnalat@vv.vokintehser
Funding: the study was supported by grant of the state programme of the Sirius Federal District: Scientific and Technological Development of the Sirius Federal District (Agreement No. 3-03 dated 18 February 2025).
Acknowledgements: the authors express their gratitude to O.O. Vasilieva and I.A. Skvortsov from the Sirius University of Science and Technology for the formulation of RNA into lipid nanoparticles.
Author contribution: Kunyk DA, Kurchenko OM, Reshetnikov VV — study design, preparation of mRNA vaccines, data interpretation, manuscript writing; Mazunina EP — planning and conducting animal experiments; Mukasheva EA, Ignatieva AV, Kirillova ES — serological testing (HAI assay); Reshetnikov VV, Ivanov RA, Gushchin VA — manuscript editing.
Compliance with ethical standards: the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology (protocol No. 94 dated 20 May 2025). All procedures involving animals were compliant with the ethical standards approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia and with the principles of the International Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Every effort was made to minimize animal suffering and reduce the number of animals used.
The high variability of the influenza virus and the limited flexibility of inactivated vaccines result in a need to develop new, more effective preventive therapeutics. The RNA platform is among the most promising ones for developing new generation vaccines against respiratory infections. The study aimed to compare the immunogenicity of two experimental therapeutics based on classic mRNA and self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) encoding the hemagglutinin (HA) of the A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza virus. BALB/c mice were immunized twice with the RNA-based therapeutics at a dose of 2 µg at a 21-day interval. Humoral immune responses were assessed using the hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay. After the second immunization, the geometric mean titers of antibodies against the homologous strain A/Wisconsin/588/2019 were 1 : 2281 (CI: 1 : 1319 – 1 : 3943) for the mRNA vaccine and 1 : 640 (CI: 1 : 404 – 1 : 1014) for the saRNA vaccine. Titers against the antigenically distant strain A/Victoria/4897/2022 in the mRNA group and saRNA group reached 1 : 1810 (CI: 1 : 844 – 1 : 3882) and 1 : 452 (CI: 1 : 246 – 1 : 832), respectively. These antibody titer values were considerably higher than those in the group that received the Ultrix Quadri inactivated split vaccine, which did not exceed 1 : 56 (CI: 1 : 26 – 1 : 121). Despite the higher antibody titers in the HAI assay after immunization with the classic mRNA-based vaccine compared with the saRNA-based vaccine, the differences were not statistically significant. Thus, the mRNA- and saRNA-based vaccines induce a pronounced humoral immune response, confirming that these platforms are promising for the development of new generation vaccines.
Keywords: influenza virus, lipid nanoparticles, immunogenicity, mRNA vaccines, self-amplifying RNA, hemagglutinin, cross-reactivity, hemagglutination inhibition