Intranasal delivery of mRNA expressing newly identified Acinetobacter baumannii antigens protects against bacterial lung disease
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Vaccines are central to the strategy to control antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacterial infections; one multidrug resistant pathogen of particular concern is Acinetobacter baumannii. In this study we identified two novel A. baumannii antigens using mass spectrometry and phage expression: Oxa23 and PAL. These genes are highly conserved between different isolates of A. baumannii and recognised by convalescent human sera. We explored their protective immunity using two different vaccine platforms, recombinant outer membrane vesicles (rOMV) and mRNA. RNA vaccine immunised mice had significantly reduced bacterial load in their lower airways following challenge with carbapenem resistant A. baumannii, with Oxa23 providing better protection than PAL. We then compared routes of delivery and RNA vaccine platforms, demonstrating that intranasally delivery of mRNA encoding OXA-23 (formulated with GL67A) significantly reduced disease severity and enhanced bacterial clearance. These studies validate in silico identified antigens through challenge studies and novel mucosal vaccine delivery approaches.
Date Issued
2025-07-04
Date Acceptance
2025-06-17
Citation
npj Vaccines, 2025, 10
ISSN
2059-0105
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
npj Vaccines
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 144