2. Academic Validation
  3. A nanovaccine for immune activation and prophylactic protection of atherosclerosis in mouse models

A nanovaccine for immune activation and prophylactic protection of atherosclerosis in mouse models

  • Nat Commun. 2025 Mar 2;16(1):2111. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-57467-5.
Lei Zhang # 1,  Abdulrahman Al-Ammari # 2,  Danxuan Zhu 3,  Hongsong Zhang 4,  Peng Zhou 1,  Xu Zhi 5,  Weixiao Ding 1,  Xinmeng Li 1,  Qingqing Yu 1,  Yuwen Gai 1,  Xiaoling Ma 3,  Chuntao Chen 1,  Chao Zuo 6,  Jiaan Zhang 7,  Wanying Zhu 8,  Dongping Sun 9
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Chemicobiology and Functional Materials Institute, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, PR China.
  • 2 School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, PR China.
  • 3 The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
  • 4 Department of Cardiology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, PR China.
  • 6 School of Electronic and Optical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, PR China.
  • 7 Institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Nanjing, PR China. [email protected].
  • 8 School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China. [email protected].
  • 9 Chemicobiology and Functional Materials Institute, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, PR China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 40025093 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57467-5
Abstract

Vaccines offer prophylactic treatments against atherosclerosis by eliciting effector T cell and antibody responses, which require effective delivery of antigen and Adjuvant to activate dendritic cells (DC). Here we show that individual conjugation of antigen p210 and Adjuvant CpG oligodeoxynucleotides onto superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles formulates a nanovaccine cocktail that activates DCs for antigen cross-presentation and induction of co-stimulatory signals, cytokines and CD8+ effector/effector memory T cell responses. This nanovaccine modulates the DCs in the draining lymph nodes, activates both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, elicits memory responses, and induces both anti-p210 IgM and IgG antibodies to suppress atherosclerosis. Lastly, three intradermal vaccinations of this nanovaccine mitigate the atherosclerosis development in the apoE-/- mice. Our nanovaccine design and preclinical data thus presents a potential candidate for prophylactic treatment for atherosclerosis.

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