Novel Multivalent Nanoparticle Vaccines | Office of Technology Transfer, NIH

Novel Multivalent Nanoparticle Vaccines | Office of Technology Transfer, NIH

Licensing Opportunity:

Novel Multivalent Nanoparticle Vaccines

A) Schematic model of antigenically distinct receptor binding domains (RBD) of influenza hemagglutinin (colored individually) displayed on the surface of ferritin-based nanoparticle. B) Antigenic characterization of mosaic nanoparticle (RBD-np) by immunoprecipitation (IP). Monoclonal antibodies specific to distinct pair of hemagglutinin RBDs from two influenza H1N1 strains were used for experiments. Credit: NIAID.

NIAID researchers are developing a seasonal influenza vaccine candidate that elicits an immune response against a wider range of influenza subtypes than current seasonal influenza vaccines. Administration of this vaccine may confer protection for several years, thereby eliminating the need for yearly vaccination. The technology also has an increased ease of production compared to current seasonal influenza vaccines.

The available vaccine candidate base uses a ferritin nanoparticle platform as an alternative approach for the design and production of seasonal influenza vaccines. The vaccine comprises antigenically distinct receptor binding domains of influenza hemagglutinin fused to a monomeric ferritin peptide. The ferritin peptides are capable of self-assembling, resulting in nanoparticles that display the receptor binding domains on their surface.

Because the vaccine comprises several subtypes of antigen on each nanoparticle, it elicits an immune response against a wide range of influenza subtypes, eliminating the need to predict which three or four strains may be dominant each flu season. Read more about this exciting licensing opportunity: https://www.ott.nih.gov/technology/e-060-2015-0.