A Thermostable, Flexible RNA Vaccine Delivery Platform for Pandemic Response

  1. Alana Gerhardt
  2. Emily Voigt
  3. Michelle Archer
  4. Sierra Reed
  5. Elise Larson
  6. Neal Van Hoeven
  7. Ryan Kramer
  8. Christopher Fox
  9. Corey Casper

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Abstract

Current RNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are limited by instability of both the RNA and the lipid nanoparticle delivery system, requiring storage at −20°C or −70°C and compromising universally accessible vaccine distribution. This study demonstrates the thermostability and adaptability of a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) RNA vaccine delivery system for use in pandemic preparedness and pandemic response. Liquid NLC is stable at refrigerated temperatures for ≥ 1 year, enabling stockpiling and rapid deployment by point-of-care mixing with any vaccine RNA. Alternatively, NLC complexed with RNA may be readily lyophilized and stored at room temperature for ≥ 8 months or refrigerated temperature for ≥ 21 months. This thermostable RNA vaccine platform could significantly improve distribution of current and future pandemic response vaccines, particularly in low-resource settings.

One Sentence Summary

An RNA vaccine delivery system stable at room temperature for 8+ months and refrigerated for 21+ months.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.02.01.429283: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Materials and Methods:
    Methods
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.02.01.429283 on bioRxiv