NU 2019-066

INVENTORS

Dina Kats

Shaobin Shang

Chyung-Ru Wang

Evan A. Scott*

SHORT DESCRIPTION

A novel vaccine delivery system for enhanced immune response

BACKGROUND

In contrast to attenuated vaccines that contain live pathogens, subunit vaccines contain peptide antigens from a specific pathogen, enabling them to be produced more quickly and cost effectively.  However, standard subunit vaccines lack lipid antigens, making it a challenge to deliver and target white blood cells.  A single vaccine that can deliver both, peptide and lipid antigen components would provide broader immune response and improve the overall efficacy of vaccines.

ABSTRACT

Northwestern researchers have developed and synthesized polymeric micelles that are effective nanocarriers for hydrophilic and hydrophobic payloads.  These polymeric micelles, composed of block copolymers of poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(propylene sulfide), can deliver both peptide and lipid antigens to white blood T-cells with a two-fold advantage.  First, the polymer micelles can easily accommodate the addition of various adjuvants to enhance and broaden immune responses.  Second, the payload is released steadily over the course of a few weeks.  The rapid and inexpensive platform for these polymeric micelles further offers considerable improvement for large-scale vaccine production for diseases with lipid antigens, such as tuberculosis and certain types of cancer.  There are other potential applications in the field of vaccine testing and development, as these nanocarriers provide a convenient platform to explore and determine optimal antigen/adjuvant combinations. 

APPLICATIONS

• Therapeutics
  • Improvement of vaccine outcomes by increasing efficacy and immune responses
  • Platform to accelerate vaccine development by exploring antigen/adjuvant combinations

ADVANTAGES

• Enables immune response from lipid antigens
• Accommodates large variety of hydrophobic and hydrophilic payloads
• Offers low production costs and high throughput methods
• Provides extensive nanocarrier stability for months to years

PUBLICATIONS

Shang S, Kats D, Cao L, Morgun E, Velluto D, He Y, Xu Q, Wag CR, Scott EA. (2018). Induction of mycobacterium tuberculosis lipid-specific T cell responses by pulmonary delivery of mycolic acid-loaded polymeric micellar nanocarriers. Frontiers in Immunology, 9, 2709.

IP STATUS

A US provisional patent application was filed.

INVO CONTACT 
Iwona Maciagiewicz, PhD 
Invention Manager 
(p) 847.491.4201
(e) iwona-maciagiewicz@northwestern.edu
 

Illustration of polymeric micelle that acts as carrier for the lipid antigen mycolic acid.