Tune-In to the Immune System with Label IT®

In each SNiP or “Small News in Pieces” we highlight standout research articles we’ve come across that feature Mirus Bio products… in bite-size pieces.

In today’s SNiP, Label IT® nucleic acid labeling technology was used to characterize a new method of vaccine delivery, the microneedle array (MNA). Traditionally, vaccines are injected subcutaneously via needles that can reach upwards of 3 cm in length. MNAs are patches of micron-scale needles that delicately penetrate the skin in a painless manner, accessing an immune-rich population of cells and limiting discomfort to the recipient.

To enhance vaccine efficacy, immune-stimulating molecules or “agonists” are commonly incorporated into vaccine formulations along with the vaccine’s target or “antigen.” Edwards et al. show that double-stranded polyIC RNA and single-stranded CpG DNA oligos can be coated and used as agonists on MNAs. The authors also suggest that the electrostatic interactions between the negatively charged nucleic acid agonists and positively charged antigens drive assembly during coating of MNAs. Using Label IT® Cy®3 and Cy®5, the authors were able to fluorescently label the two different nucleic acid agonists to visualize their distribution on the microneedles. They show that that they can load both agonists uniformly onto the microneedles at defined ratios, opening the door for fine tuning the immune response to vaccination with MNAs.

Check out the paper to see the fluorescent images of MNAs and to read how they performed in activating the immune system in vitro and in vaccination of mice.

Citation

Title: Tuning innate immune function using microneedles containing multiple classes of toll-like receptor agonists
Authors: Camilla Edwards, Robert Oakes et al.
Journal: Nanoscale, Volume 15, Apr 2023.
DOI: 10.1039/D3NR00333G
Product Usage: The Cy®3 and Cy®5 Label IT® Nucleic Acid Labeling Kits were used to fluorescently label polyIC RNA and CpG DNA toll-like receptor agonists. To coat the microneedles, the MNAs were dipped sequentially into solutions containing FITC-labeled antigen and the agonists (1 mg/ml in 0.2 M sodium acetate) with rinsing in deionized water between coatings of up to 128 layers. Confocal microscopy was used to visualize the MNAs.

Read more articles featuring Mirus reagents in our Citations Database!