BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna do not explicitly state the use of an adjuvant within their vaccines, but RNA already contains immunostimulatory properties and signals through pathogen recognition receptors. (72) It remains to be seen whether the immunostimulation from RNA is strong enough to confer full protection against SARS-CoV-2. There is also a possibility that the LNP carriers they utilize confer adjuvant properties themselves. Since the discovery that liposomes incorporating dicetyl phosphate provided greater protection against diphtheria toxoid than unmodified liposomes, the study of using lipid carriers also as adjuvants has grown considerably. (101) Unilamellar phospholipid membrane nanoparticles encapsulating viral antigens (otherwise known as virosomes) with adjuvant properties against influenza and hepatitis A are currently already used in the clinic. (147)
They are in the one of the Moderna patents b/c I posted it.
By integrating functional viral envelope glycoproteins, liposomes were developed into an interesting novel type of antigen adjuvant named virosomes, retaining the cell-binding and membrane fusion ability of the native virus.[55, 56] Mimicking natural infection, the vaccines manifest an improved ability to be captured by antigen presenting cells (APCs) and enhanced antigen processing in the context of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I pathway.[57, 58] Thus, they are highly efficacious and able to induce both B- and T-cell responses. A vaccine against influenza, licensed as Inflexal V (Figure 2A),[59] has already reached the market. Generated with a mixture of three monovalent virosome pools, this vaccine was shown to be highly immunogenic and is the only adjuvanted influenza vaccine currently licensed for use in all age groups.
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