Impact of RNA modification and IL-12 boosts on mRNA-LNP vaccine-elicited CD8+ T cell responses

In non-human primates, serial priming and boosting with fully unmodified mRNA elicited higher-magnitude, more CD8-biased CD8+ T cell responses than fully nucleoside-modified mRNA, with durability after IL-12 mRNA boosts.

• Why it matters: HIV-1 vaccine strategies must reliably generate strong CD8+ T cell and neutralizing antibody responses, but how RNA modification and IL-12 boosting jointly shape both arms remains unclear.
• What they did: Non-human primates received SIV conserved-region CD8+ T cell immunogen mRNA-LNP with IL-12-encoding mRNA-LNP during boosting, comparing unmodified versus modified mRNA ratios and assessing responses alongside ChAdOx1-primed controls.
• The result: Fully unmodified mRNA produced higher-magnitude, more CD8-biased T cell responses that were durably maintained after IL-12-encoding mRNA boosts, while adding 30% nucleoside-modified mRNA enhanced antibody titers.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.