Engineers design more powerful RNA vaccines

The new approach could lead to intranasal vaccines for Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases. RNA vaccines against Covid-19 have proven effective at reducing the severity of disease. However, a team of researchers at MIT is working on making them even better. By tweaking the design of the vaccines, the researchers showed that they could generate Covid-19 RNA vaccines that produce a stronger immune response, at a lower dose, in mice. Adjuvants are molecules commonly used to increase the immune response to vaccines, but they haven-t yet been used in RNA vaccines. In this study, the MIT researchers engineered both the nanoparticles used to deliver the Covid-19 antigen, and the antigen itself, to boost the immune response, without the need for a separate adjuvant. If further developed for use in humans, this type of RNA vaccine could help to reduce costs, reduce the dosage needed, and potentially lead to longer-lasting immunity.