A do-it-yourself toolbox to make an RSV vaccine

Jessica Marcandalli, Brooke Fiala, Sebastian Ols, Karin Loré, Laurent Perez, Neil P. King

Self-assembling proteins are promising inducers of a strong antibody response, because they enable multivalent antigen presentation. Jessica Marcandalli and colleagues designed such a self-assembling protein nanoparticle vaccine, based on prefusion-stabilized RSV-F antigen. It is a computational vaccine that consists of multiple nanoparticles fused to 20 pre-F trimers, resulting in a high density of pre-F antigens. The study shows a 10 fold higher neutralizing antibody response in mice and non-human primates, compared to the response to trimeric form of RSV-pre-F protein.
Marcandalli et al. hereby offer a new do-it-yourself protocol to customize RSV structure-based vaccines. With this ever expanding RSV vaccine development - toolbox we are getting closer to finding a suitable RSV-vaccine every day. 

download paper of the month | May 2019