One fast vaccine strategy could protect against Ebola, H1N1, more

Nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNAs successfully vaccinate mice against pathogens. Vaccination has improved health and lengthened life spans over the last two centuries, but it takes time to develop vaccines in response to emergent health threats. A paper published in PNAS presents a new type of nanoparticle vaccine technology using RNA to encode proteins that trigger immune responses. This new vaccine technology could allow us to respond more quickly to new threats, potentially saving many lives during future outbreaks. Currently, four types of vaccines are commonly used. Inactivated vaccines contain bacterial cells or viruses that are killed or inactivated—they can’t replicate, but they can produce an immune response. Attenuated vaccines contain live bacteria or viruses that have low virulence, so they will evoke an immune response, but won’t cause a full-fledged infection. Virus-like particle vaccines contain the shell of a virus, but lack any genetic material. Finally, subunit vaccines contain proteins derived from the infectious...