Biomimetic Multilayered Lipid Nanovesicles for Potent Protein Vaccination

Abstract

Lipid vesicles are widely used for drug and gene delivery, but their structural instability reduces in vivo efficacy and requires specialized handling. To address these limitations, strategies like lipid cross-linking and polymer-lipid conjugation are suggested to enhance stability and biological efficacy. However, the in vivo metabolism of these altered lipids remains unclear, necessitating further studies. A new stabilization technique without chemical modification is urgently needed. Here, a bio-mimetic approach for fabricating robust multilamellar lipid vesicles to enhance in vivo delivery and stabilization of protein antigens is presented. This method leverages 1-O-acylceramide, a natural skin lipid, to facilitate the self-assembly of lipid nanovesicles. Incorporating 1-O-acylceramide, anchoring lipid bilayers akin to its role in the stratum corneum, provides excellent stability under environmental stresses, including freeze-thaw cycles. Encapsulating ovalbumin as a model antigen and the adjuvant monophosphoryl lipid A demonstrates the vesicle's potential as a nanovaccine platform. In vitro studies show enhanced immune responses with both unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles, but in vivo analyses highlight the superior efficiency of multilamellar vesicles in inducing higher antibody and cytokine levels. This work suggests ceramide-induced multilamellar lipid vesicles as an effective nanovaccine platform for enhanced antigen delivery and stability.