Mucosal Immunization with a pH-Responsive Nanoparticle Vaccine Induces Protective CD8 Lung-Resident Memory T Cells.

Tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM) patrol non-lymphoid organs and provide superior protection against pathogens that commonly infect mucosal and barrier tissues, such as the lungs, intestine, liver, and skin. Thus, there is a need for vaccine technologies that can induce a robust, protective TRM response in these tissues. Nanoparticle (NP) vaccines offer important advantages over conventional vaccines; however, there has been minimal investigation into the design of NP-based vaccines for eliciting TRM responses. Here, we describe a pH-responsive polymeric nanoparticle vaccine for generating antigen-specific CD8+ TRM cells in the lungs. With a single intranasal dose, the NP vaccine elicited both airway- and lung-resident CD8+ TRM cells and protected against respiratory virus challenge in both sublethal (vaccinia) and lethal (influenza) infection models for up to nine weeks after immunization. In elucidating the contribution of material properties to the resulting TRM response, we found that the pH-responsive activity of the carrier was important, as a structurally analogous non-pH-responsive control carrier elicited significantly fewer lung-resident CD8+ T cells. We also demonstrated that dual-delivery of protein antigen and nucleic acid adjuvant on the same NP substantially enhanced the magnitude, functionality, and longevity of the antigen-specific CD8+ TRM response in the lungs. Compared to administration of soluble antigen and adjuvant, the NP also mediated retention of vaccine cargo in pulmonary antigen-presenting cells (APCs), enhanced APC activation, and increased production of TRM-related cytokines. Overall, these data suggest a promising vaccine platform technology for rapid generation of protective CD8+ TRM cells in the lungs.