Jet-injected combinational adjuvants potentiate naked mRNA vaccines for protection against respiratory viral infections in mice

The use of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to enhance delivery and immunogenicity of mRNA vaccines raises safety concerns due to strong reactogenicity. Developing naked mRNA vaccines, which can be delivered through liquid jet-injection to the skin, may offer a safer alternative, but their immunogenicity has been limited. To address this challenge, we screened clinically relevant adjuvants to enhance the efficacy of N1-methyl-pseudouridine-modified naked mRNA jet-injection vaccines in mouse models. Although many adjuvants showed little or inhibitory effects on inducing humoral or cellular immunity-despite their known ability to potentiate conventional non-mRNA vaccine platforms-we identified a combination of aluminum phosphate and CpG oligonucleotide that substantially enhanced both humoral and cellular immune responses with increased IgG2a/IgG1 ratio. This adjuvanted naked mRNA vaccine induced IgG2a and cellular immunity at levels comparable to those achieved with LNPs but with lower local and systemic reactogenicity. Mechanistic investigations revealed key roles for type I interferon and interleukin-6 signaling during immunization. Notably, this vaccine formulation in mice virtually eliminated infection by both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus (A/California/7/2009 H1N1) in plaque-forming assays. Collectively, the adjuvanted naked mRNA jet-injection vaccine represents an effective, and safe platform against infectious diseases, with potential for clinic-ready translational applications.