Anne de Dreu obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). She then pursued a PhD in the Precision Medicine research group, also at the TU/e . She is currently a fourth year PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Willem Mulder and Dr. Roy van der Meel. Her research focusses on the development of fusion proteins that are used in immune-modulating nanoparticles. 

Abstract: As became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, a vital need exists for flexible and safe platforms that enable swift vaccine manufacturing and deployment. Here, we present a modular vaccine platform based on apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) nanoparticles (aNPs) with avidity for antigen-presenting cells. The vaccine aNPs’ composition can be finetuned by incorporating apoA1-antigen fusion proteins and various adjuvants. In vitro, apoA1-ovalbumin fusion proteins and aNPs were efficiently taken up by dendritic cells. Subsequent activation of ovalbumin-specific CD8+ T cells was confirmed with flow cytometry. We investigated the in vivo behaviour of our aNPs upon intravenous or intramuscular administration and found that injected aNPs mainly accumulate in lymph nodes, bone marrow and spleen. We then vaccinated mice with apoA1-ovalbumin aNPs containing a single adjuvant, or combinations of multiple adjuvants. We observed increased numbers of ovalbumin-specific CD8+ T-cells in the spleens of mice vaccinated with aNPs containing multiple adjuvants. Additionally, significantly more antibodies against ovalbumin were raised for aNPs that contained multiple adjuvants compared to aNPs that contained only one adjuvant, and to aNPs mixed with adjuvants currently in clinical use. With this, we have taken important steps in establishing a modular vaccine platform that elicits a strong cellular and humoral immune response.