UF Researchers Develop New Vaccine Booster That Could Strengthen Protection Against Infections and Cancer

April 18, 2024

Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a new type of vaccine booster that could enhance vaccine efficacy, durability, and breadth of protection across a broader range of diseases. The work, led in part by Prof. Zhongwu Guo, Rajendra Rohokale, and Jiatong Guo, focuses on improving how the immune system responds to vaccines by helping it recognize threats more clearly and react more powerfully.

Vaccines work by training the immune system to recognize harmful invaders such as viruses or bacteria. However, many vaccines require additional help to elicit the immune system’s attention. That help comes from adjuvants—ingredients added to vaccines to “wake up” the immune system and encourage it to build long-term protection. Most existing adjuvants act through a single immune pathway and often pair well only with specific vaccines.

The UF team took a different approach. Instead of using one immune-boosting signal, they chemically linked two distinct immune stimulators into a single compound. One component, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA), is derived from bacteria and signals to the immune system that a pathogen may be present. The second component—either a small molecule called dinitrophenyl (DNP) or the natural sugar rhamnose—attracts antibodies already present in the body, which then recruit immune cells to attack.

By permanently linking these two signals, the new adjuvant ensures that immune cells receive multiple coordinated messages simultaneously. This results in a much stronger and more organized immune response than simply mixing the ingredients. The result is what researchers describe as a “multiplicative” effect, in which the combined response exceeds the sum of its parts.

This dual-action design makes the technology exceptionally versatile. It has potential applications in vaccines against viral, bacterial, and fungal infections, as well as in cancer immunotherapy, where the immune system must be trained to recognize and destroy tumor cells. The rhamnose-based version may be particularly valuable in cancer treatment because it enhances the body’s ability to recruit immune cells directly to tumors.

By rethinking how vaccine boosters are built, the University of Florida team has created a promising platform that could support the next generation of vaccines and immune-based therapies, offering broader protection and more durable immune memory.