Abstract
Current lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used in mRNA vaccines typically incorporate polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a stabilizing material; however, safety concerns have prompted the search for non-PEG alternatives. Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS) is a life-threatening zoonotic disease with a case fatality rate of up to 30%, and its incidence is rising in East Asia, including China, South Korea, and Japan. Despite its growing public health impact, no licensed vaccine or specific antiviral therapy is available, highlighting the urgent need for vaccine development. Human serum albumin (HSA) is a promising stabilizer, yet an HSA-based LNP mRNA vaccine has not been reported. Here, we developed SFTSV HSAmvac, an HSA-LNP mRNA vaccine encoding a modified Gn protein of SFTSV. Immunization of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice elicited robust humoral and cellular immune responses, and vaccination of IFNAR–/– mice provided complete protection against a lethal challenge, demonstrating the potential of HSA-LNP as a safe and effective mRNA vaccine delivery platform.
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Data availability
The SFTS Gn sequence generated in this study has been deposited in GenBank under accession number PX394566. All other data supporting the findings of this study are included within the article and its Supplementary Information. Additional relevant data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Seo-Bin Oh and Si-On Lee for their secretarial assistance. We also extend our sincere gratitude to the staff at the Center for University-Wide Research Facilities, Jeonbuk National University (JBNU), for their invaluable support with confocal microscopy and flow cytometry analyses. This study was supported by the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (RS-2025-02214485).
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T.S.G., E.L., and E.M. performed experiments, analyzed primary data, and generated figures. S.A. performed the animal experiments. S.T.H. conceptualized and designed the study and planned the specific experiments. T.S.G. analyzed the data and prepared the figures. S.T.H. and T.S.G. wrote the manuscript. S.T.H. and H.J.K. reviewed and revised the manuscript. S.T.H. coordinated the study and secured funding. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
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Ganbold, T., Lkhagva, E., Munkhtur, E. et al. Development of a Prophylactic mRNA Vaccine for Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Using HSA based LNP. npj Vaccines (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-026-01385-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-026-01385-0
