Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41223248›Full record

ArticleScience translational medicine2025

Incorporation of 5-methylcytidine alleviates RIG-I-mediated innate immune responses to a self-amplifying RNA vaccine.

Wataru Akahata, Mai Komori, Amber L Morey, Andrés A Quiñones-Molina, James B Hood, Josiane Fofana, Luis Romero, Elizabeth Peters, Jonathan D Webber, Tyler Meeks and 10 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science translational medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Immunology of RNA-based vaccines: The critical interplay between inflammation and expression.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2025
    Review
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Research progress of mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases.European journal of medical research · 2025
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

20 authors.

Wataru AkahataVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9207-6923
Mai KomoriVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8999-3456
Amber L MoreyVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3401-9853
Andrés A Quiñones-MolinaDepartment of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.ORCID 0009-0004-4534-0524
James B HoodDepartment of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.ORCID 0009-0005-3354-7787
Josiane FofanaDepartment of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2006-2087
Luis RomeroVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0009-0004-7768-5965
Elizabeth PetersVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0009-0009-0300-0739
Jonathan D WebberHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1979-6355
Tyler MeeksHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0009-0009-9172-8200
Paulina A PrzygonskaHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0009-0009-4446-5452
Isabel SteinbergHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0009-0004-3173-3634
Ellison OberHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Tae KimHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Daniel C RoganHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9766-4166
Kenta MatsudaVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7746-3028
Jonathan F SmithVLP Therapeutics, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.
Suryaram GummuluruDepartment of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8606-8481
Mark ConnorsHIV-Specific Immunity Section of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2108-8705
Hisashi AkiyamaDepartment of Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9228-0465

Funding

Translational ScienceP30AI042853 · NIAID · MIRIAM HOSPITAL · PI CURT G BECKWITH, DEBBIE M. CHENG · 1998 to 2026
$51.7M
RESEARCH TRAINING IN IMMUNOLOGYT32AI007309 · NIAID · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI GUMMULURU, SURYARAM · 1988 to 2024
$7.4M
Persistent HIV expression induced type I IFN responses and inflammagingR01AG060890 · NIA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI GUMMULURU, SURYARAM, LIN, NINA H. · 2018 to 2022
$3.8M
Persistent HIV-1 expression and microglia dysfunctionR01DA055488 · NIDA · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · PI GUMMULURU, SURYARAM, HENDERSON, ANDREW J · 2021 to 2025
$3.7M
Antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity and HIV-1 mother to child transmissionR01AI172843 · NIAID · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · PI SAGAR, MANISH · 2022 to 2025
$3.5M
Synergistic Mechanisms of chronic Innate Immune Activation in Microglia by Opiates and HIV InfectionR01DA051889 · NIDA · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI CHENG, CHRISTINE, GUMMULURU, SURYARAM · 2020 to 2024
$3.5M
RNA modification and innate immune activation in HIV infectionR01AI183400 · NIAID · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI Hisashi Akiyama · 2024 to 2026
$2.5M
Innate sensing of HIV in microgliaR21NS126092 · NINDS · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI AKIYAMA, HISASHI · 2021 to 2022
$465k
Dual antiretroviral loaded nanoparticles for long-acting suppressive HIV therapyF31AI172625 · NIAID · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · PI FOFANA, JOSIANE · 2022 to 2024
$70k
NIAID NIH HHS F31 AI172625NIAID NIH HHS P30 AI042853NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI172843NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI183400NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI007309NIA NIH HHS R01 AG060890NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA051889NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA055488NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS126092
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To improve existing synthetic RNA-based vaccines, we previously developed a self-amplifying RNA (saRNA)-based vaccine expressing a membrane-anchored (TM) receptor binding domain (RBD) of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein (S-RBD-TM) and demonstrated that a low dose of this saRNA vaccine elicits robust immune responses. Moreover, a recent clinical trial with an saRNA vaccine incorporating 5-methylcytidine (5mC) (saRNA-5mC) has demonstrated reduced vaccine reactogenicity while maintaining robust humoral responses. In this study, we investigate the mechanisms by which 5mC incorporation attenuates adverse effects while maintaining immunogenicity. We found that incorporation of 5mC into the saRNA platform led to prolonged and robust expression of antigen and attenuated induction of type I interferon, a key driver of reactogenicity, specifically in plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). As a result, saRNA-5mC alleviated excessive innate immune responses in vivo without impairing B cell and T cell responses against the SARS-CoV-2 RBD. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that the detection of unmodified saRNA in pDCs was mediated by a host cytosolic RNA sensor, RIG-I, and this sensing was abolished with 5mC incorporation. In contrast, saRNA-5mC induced robust innate activation in professional antigen-presenting cells, such as macrophages, in a RIG-I-independent manner, highlighting distinct host sensing mechanisms for synthetic RNAs. Our study provides support for the potential clinical use of saRNA-5mC vaccine platforms.

Indexed as

COVID-19 VaccinesCytidineDEAD Box Protein 58Immunity, InnateAnimalsCOVID-19Dendritic CellsFemaleHumansInterferon Type IMiceMice, Inbred C57BLSARS-CoV-2Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus5-methylcytidineCOVID-19 VaccinesCytidineDEAD Box Protein 58Interferon Type ISpike Glycoprotein, Coronavirusspike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID41223248
PMCPMC13071834

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.