mRNA vaccines have shown to be suitable for tackling emerging pandemics due to their rapid development process, superior efficacy, and favorable safety profile. A significant drawback of the currently marketed mRNA products is their low stability requiring storage at negative temperatures, implying challenges in their transport and distribution, while consequently increasing costs. Here, we embedded a novel mRNA-LNP in microneedle arrays patches, stored under different conditions and monitored physicochemical properties and in vitro transfection efficiency. The optimal MAP candidates can be stored in the refrigerator with minimal change of these parameters for one year. MAPs containing mRNA-LNP encoding the rabies virus glycoprotein produced relevant virus neutralizing titers after prime-boost vaccination of guinea pigs. Presentation of mRNA in MAPs is a promising application strategy that might overcome stability issues and could help to increase opportunities for mRNA medicines on the post-pandemic pharmaceutical market.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the challenges of mRNA vaccine storage at negative temperatures and the potential solutions.
Evaluate the immunization efficiency and the stability of mRNA-LNPs in microneedle array patches under refrigerated conditions.
Discuss the potential of microneedle array patches to overcome stability issues of mRNA vaccines and improve their accessibility.
