Assembly and assessment of DNA scaffolded vaccines

Vaccines play an important role in preventing many life-threatening infectious diseases. To meet the demand of vaccination for treating a wide range of diseases, rational vaccine design has been recognized as a desirable and necessary strategy for development of safe and effective vaccines. DNA nanostructures are advantageous in the design and construction of synthetic vaccines, owing to their robust self-assembly, programmability, and precision control in complex organization, as well as their intrinsic adjuvant activity. Here, we describe a modular assembly of DNA scaffolded vaccine complex, composing of a model antigen, streptavidin, and adjuvant, CpG oligonucleotide. The DNA-assembled vaccines were found to elicit strong antigen-specific antibody responses, but causing little or no adverse reactions. Conceivably, this vaccine platform can be further optimized for improved immunogenicity and extended to the construction of various subunit vaccines.