A new ‘lipid nanoparticle’ has been developed by domestic researchers to enhance the safety of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines that played a significant role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Lipid nanoparticles, composed of lipids and genetic materials, serve as vehicles to deliver vaccine materials to the body.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on the 23rd that a research team led by Geum Kyochang, the head of the Brain Fusion Technology Research Division, and Bang Eunkyung, a senior researcher at the Brain Fusion Technology Research Division, developed a new method for composing novel lipid nanoparticles with reduced toxicity through collaborative research with Professor Nam Jaehwan’s team at Catholic University and Professor Yoon Hyewon’s team at Seoul National University Hospital.
When developing mRNA vaccines, the most critical consideration is minimizing the toxicity of the lipid nanoparticles, which serve as vaccine carriers. The ‘ionizable lipids’ that constitute lipid nanoparticles could potentially induce toxicity in the body. So far, the toxicity has been mitigated by inducing ionizable lipids to degrade in the body. However, this method resulted in issues such as reducing the efficiency of intracellular vaccine delivery and suppressing immune responses.
The research team utilized ‘trehalose,’ a sugar-based lipid constituent, instead of ionizable lipids. Trehalose, known as a sugar substitute, is a sugar component found in plants and insects. Trehalose is non-toxic, easy to bind with vaccine materials, and was used to replace 25% of the conventional lipid nanoparticles that previously consisted of 50% ionizable lipids.
Using this method, the mRNA vaccine made with the new lipid nanoparticles showed similar antibody levels and immune effects upon entering the body compared to mRNA vaccines made using conventional lipid nanoparticle composition methods. The vaccines showed reduced toxicity and could selectively deliver vaccine materials to immune-related organs such as the spleen and lymph nodes, depending on the vaccination method, preventing potential side effects caused by vaccine materials entering non-immune-related organs.
Regarding this research, researcher Bang emphasized the significance of developing a technology capable of creating mRNA vaccine carriers with low toxicity and the ability to selectively deliver to immune-related organs, stating that it is expected to contribute to the prevention of infectious diseases and immune-based cancer treatments.