Developing a novel and potent adjuvant with great
biocompatibility for immune response augmentation is of great
significance to enhance vaccine efficacy. In this work, we prepared a
long-term stable, pH-sensitive, and biodegradable Mn3(PO4)2·
3H2O nanoparticle (nano-MnP) by simply mixing MnCl2/
NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4 solution for the first time and employed it
as an immune stimulant in the bivalent COVID-19 protein vaccine
comprised of wild-type S1 (S1-WT) and Omicron S1 (S1-
Omicron) proteins as antigens to elicit a broad-spectrum
immunity. The biological experiments indicated that the nanoMnP could effectively activate antigen-presenting cells through the
cGAS−STING pathway. Compared with the convention... More
Developing a novel and potent adjuvant with great
biocompatibility for immune response augmentation is of great
significance to enhance vaccine efficacy. In this work, we prepared a
long-term stable, pH-sensitive, and biodegradable Mn3(PO4)2·
3H2O nanoparticle (nano-MnP) by simply mixing MnCl2/
NaH2PO4/Na2HPO4 solution for the first time and employed it
as an immune stimulant in the bivalent COVID-19 protein vaccine
comprised of wild-type S1 (S1-WT) and Omicron S1 (S1-
Omicron) proteins as antigens to elicit a broad-spectrum
immunity. The biological experiments indicated that the nanoMnP could effectively activate antigen-presenting cells through the
cGAS−STING pathway. Compared with the conventional Alumadjuvanted group, the nano-MnP-adjuvanted bivalent vaccine elicited approximately 7- and 8-fold increases in IgG antibody titers
and antigen-specific IFN-γ secreting T cells, respectively. Importantly, antisera of the nano-MnP-adjuvanted group could effectively
cross-neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 and its five variants of concern (VOCs) including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron,
demonstrating that this bivalent vaccine based on S1-WT and S1-Omicron proteins is an effective vaccine design strategy to induce
broad-spectrum immune responses. Collectively, this nano-MnP material may provide a novel and efficient adjuvant platform for
various prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines and provide insights for the development of the next-generation manganese adjuvant.