Cited by 130SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchRNA Interference and Gene DeliveryNanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery

A core-shell structured COVID-19 mRNA vaccine with favorable biodistribution pattern and promising immunity

Open access
Yang, Ren, Deng, Yao, Huang, Baoying, Huang, Lei, Lin, Ang, Li, Yuhua, Wang, Wenling, Liu, Jingjing +18 more·2021·Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy

Abstract

Although inoculation of COVID-19 vaccines has rolled out globally, there is still a critical need for safe and effective vaccines to ensure fair and equitable supply for all countries. Here, we report on the development of a highly efficacious mRNA vaccine, SW0123 that is composed of sequence-modified mRNA encoding the full-length SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein packaged in core–shell structured lipopolyplex (LPP) nanoparticles. SW0123 is easy to produce using a large-scale microfluidics-based apparatus. The unique core–shell structured nanoparticle facilitates vaccine uptake and demonstrates a high colloidal stability, and a desirable biodistribution pattern with low liver targeting effect upon intramuscular administration. Extensive evaluations in mice and nonhuman primates revealed strong immunogenicity of SW0123, represented by induction of Th1-polarized T cell responses and high levels of antibodies that were capable of neutralizing not only the wild-type SARS-CoV-2, but also a panel of variants including D614G and N501Y variants. In addition, SW0123 conferred effective protection in both mice and non-human primates upon SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Taken together, SW0123 is a promising vaccine candidate that holds prospects for further evaluation in humans.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41392-021-00634-z

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The benchmark sequence H has been used in a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that elicited high immunogenicity in two animal models and entered a phase I clinical trial in China.

    “This benchmark sequence has been used in a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that elicited high immunogenicity in two animal models26 and entered a phase I clinical trial in China”

    From Algorithm for optimized mRNA design improves stability and immunogenicity (2023) · cites this paper as [26]

    The Introduction reports that SW0123 was highly immunogenic in mice and nonhuman primates and was being evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial in China. The Results describe its sequence-optimized spike mRNA, but our copy does not identify that mRNA as the citing document’s benchmark sequence H, so the claimed link to H is not established. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • LPP is a lipid-based mRNA delivery system and has been demonstrated to provide high efficacy and good safety profile.

    “LPP is a lipid-based mRNA delivery system and has been demonstrated to provide high efficacy and good safety profile26.”

    From Algorithm for optimized mRNA design improves stability and immunogenicity (2023) · cites this paper as [26]

    The Introduction identifies LPP as a lipid-shell mRNA delivery platform, and the Discussion describes an LPP-based COVID-19 vaccine as highly efficacious. The Results report protection in animal challenge models and mild reactogenicity in safety testing. These findings support efficacy and a favorable safety profile for the tested vaccine, SW0123, but do not establish them for LPP-based mRNA delivery generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Yang and colleagues applied similar LPP technology to encapsulate mRNA in two steps using ionizable lipid, DOPE and PEG-lipid to generate COVID-19 mRNA vaccine with a core-shell structure, which showed significant protection in mice and non-human primates.

    “Yang and colleagues330 applied similar LPP technology to encapsulate mRNA in two steps using ionizable lipid, DOPE and PEG-lipid to generate COVID-19 mRNA vaccine with a core-shell structure, which showed significant protection in mice and non-human primates.”

    From Advances in COVID-19 mRNA vaccine development (2022) · cites this paper as [330]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [33]Walsh, E. E. et al. Safety and Immunogenicity of Two RNA-Based Covid-19 Vaccine Candidates. N Engl J Med. 383, 2439–2450 (2020). PMC7583697 33053279

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Yang, R., Deng, Y., Huang, B., Huang, L., Lin, A., Li, Y., Wang, W., Liu, J., Lu, S., Zhan, Z., Wang, Y., A, R., Wang, W., Niu, P., Zhao, L., Li, S., Ma, X., Zhang, L., Zhang, Y., Yao, W., Liang, X., Zhao, J., Liu, Z., Peng, X., Li, H., & Tan, W.
Affiliations
  • Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
  • National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (CN)
  • Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
  • Tongji University (CN)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Peng, Xiaozhong
  • Li, Hangwen
  • Tan, Wenjie
Venue
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
Published
2021-05-31
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
213-213
ISSN
2059-3635 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3164764657
Cited by
130
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 10
FWCI
8.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (82061138008, 82041041, 82061138008, COVID-19, 82041041)
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0500301, 2020YFC0842200, 2020YFC0840900)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Interference and Gene Delivery
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
Keywords
COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, core-shell nanoparticles, tissue distribution, liver targeting, neutralizing antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 variants, D614G mutation, vaccine protection
MeSH terms
Immunogenicity, Vaccine, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Vaccines, mRNA Vaccines, Animals, Antibodies, Viral, Female, Humans, Lymphocyte Activation, Vaccines, Synthetic, Viral Vaccines, Th1 Cells, Mice, Antibodies, Neutralizing, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review