A Divalent Chikungunya and Zika Nanovaccine with Thermostable Self-assembly Multivalent Scaffold LS-SUMO.

The convergence strategies of antigenic subunits and synthetic nanoparticle scaffold platform improve the vaccine production efficiency and enhance vaccine-induced immunogenicity. The selection of the appropriate nanoparticle scaffold is critical for the immunological control of the target antigens. Lumazine synthase (LS) is an attractive candidate for a vaccine display system due to its thermo-stability, modification tolerance, and morphological plasticity. Here, the first development of a multivalent thermostable scaffold, LS-SUMO, and a divalent nanovaccine covalently conjugated with CHIKV E2 and ZIKV EDIII antigens, was reported. Compared with antigen monomers, LS-SUMO nanoparticle vaccines elicited a higher humoral response and neutralizing antibodies against both antigen targets in mouse sera. Mice immunized with LS-SUMO conjugates produced CD4+ T cell-mediated Th2-biased responses and promoted humoral immunity. Importantly, LS-SUMO conjugates possess equivalent humoral immunogenicity after heat treatment. Taken together, LS-SUMO is a powerful bio-targeting nanoplatform with high-yield production, thermal stability and opens a new avenue for multivalent presentation of various antigens. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.