Tetravalent dengue mRNA vaccination orchestrates balanced four-serotype immunity with durable memory and protection in mice.
An effective dengue vaccine must establish durable immunity across four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes, evade antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), and overcome immune imprinting from prior exposure. Here, we developed TetprM-E mRNA-LNP, a tetravalent vaccine comprising LNP-formulated nucleoside-modified mRNAs encoding DENV1-4 precursor membrane-envelope (prM-E) antigens, and evaluated its immunogenicity, durability, protection and breath across serotype-specific immune backgrounds. Three immunization strategies elicited neutralizing titers greater than 1:1500 against each serotype. Passive transfer of immune sera conferred 100% survival and reduced viremia after lethal DENV2 challenge in immunocompromised mice. Vaccination induced DENV envelope (env)-specific CD8+T cells and CD4-dependent germinal-center responses. DENV env-binding antibodies persisted for 34 weeks alongside DENV env-specific memory B cells. Vaccine-elicited sera showed no measurable in vitro ADE. Although monovalent priming initially biased antibody responses, TetprM-E mRNA-LNP vaccination broadened neutralization across DENV1-4 regardless of priming serotype. Together, TetprM-E mRNA-LNP elicits broad, durable, and protective immunity despite serologic constraints from pre-existing immunity.
Authors
- Fahima Akther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1916-2785)
- Yago R. Dalben (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3029-6442)
- Longping V. Tse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7582-8396)
- David R. Martinez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2940-8961)
- John Villalpando
- E. De Buck
- Kate S Levine
- Sachchidanand Tiwari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1541-5092)
- Norbert Pardi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1008-6242)
- Daniela Weiskopf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2968-7371)
- Ryan P. McNamara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8866-3532)
- Hiromi Muramatsu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1544-1493)
- Craig B. Wilen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2495-9403)
- Zixi Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2044-5838)
- Nikhil S. Joshi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7045-7837)
- J. Polster
- Sowmya Sriram
Institutions
- La Jolla Institute for Immunology (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Saint Louis University (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.11.09.765416
- Primary Topic
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Type
- preprint