# Influence of the administration route and dose on the expression and antibody responses of a reporter and avian influenza self-amplifying mRNA vaccine in poultry

Article · Snoeck J, Cui X, Vervaeke P, Sanders NN, Garmyn A

- Archive id: doi:10.1080/01652176.2025.2603307
- Published: 2026-01-06
- Venue: The veterinary quarterly
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01652176.2025.2603307
- PMID: 41496565
- PMCID: PMC12781945
- Citations: 0
- Source URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/01652176.2025.2603307
- PDF: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12781945/pdf
- Provenance: europepmc

## Abstract

Vaccination is routinely used in industrial poultry to control infectious diseases. Vaccines based on mRNA and self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) are approved for human use, but research on their application in poultry is limited. In this study the saRNA vaccine platform is evaluated in poultry. First, a luciferase-encoding saRNA (luc-saRNA) was tested as a model vaccine across different administration routes and doses in broilers. High luciferase expression, and anti-luciferase antibodies were observed after intramuscular (IM), subcutaneous (SC), and in ovo (IO) administration. After a second Luc-saRNA injection, seroconversion rates and antibody titers increased in the IM and SC group to almost 100%. Higher doses of Luc-saRNA increased luciferase production. However, they did not linearly increase antibody production, as all tested doses (0.20-5.0 µg) elicited an equipotent immune response. A vaccination experiment with saRNA encoding the hemagglutinin head-domain (HA-HD) of H5N1 avian influenza showed hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) titers that are indicative for protection after a single injection and these titers remained above the protective threshold during 6 weeks without boosting. When boosted, the HI titers increased four-fold. This study confirms effective protein translation and immune response induction in chickens with IM or SC administered saRNA-LNPs, even at the lowest dose of 0.20 µg.

_Abstract reproduced under CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)._

Topics: [mRNA Therapeutics & Cancer Vaccines](https://space-kitty.com/topics/mrna-cancer-vaccines)

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