Development of microneedle array patch for COVID-19 vaccine delivery

COVID-19是一种全球性大流行病，没有有效的治疗和预防药物。鉴于SARS-CoV-2的高传染性和疾病的严重性，迫切需要疫苗来应对这种新型冠状病毒的感染。到目前为止，正在探索处于临床前测试和临床试验的不同阶段的各种类型的候选疫苗，包括基于RNA和DNA的载体和减毒病毒以及重组蛋白。然而，可能存在不利影响和限制。例如，基于RNA/DNA的疫苗可引发免疫应答，导致关键器官（例如脑和心脏）中的有害后果、低免疫原性、免疫原的短半衰期和载体的低效递送。为了克服这些问题，我们将与一家加拿大生物技术公司合作开发用于输送多组分疫苗的微针阵列，以提高效力，同时提高COVID-19疫苗接种的安全性。

COVID-19 is a global pandemic with no effective therapeutic and preventive agents. Given the high infectivity of the SARS-CoV-2 and severity of the disease, vaccines are urgently needed to tackle the infection of this novel coronavirus. Thus far, various types of vaccine candidates, in different stages of preclinical testing and clinical trials, are being explored, including RNA- and DNA-based, vectored and attenuated virus, and recombinant proteins. However, possible adverse effects and limitations exist. For example, RNA/DNA-based vaccines can trigger an immune response leading to detrimental consequences in key organs (e.g. brain and heart), low immunogenicity, short half-life of immunogen, and inefficient delivery of vectors. To overcome these problems, we will work with a Canadian biotechnology company to develop microneedle arrays for delivering multicomponent vaccine to boost the efficacy while increasing the safety of vaccination for COVID-19.