Covid-19: suction cups to administer vaccines?

In a few months, it could be that vaccines against Covid-19 will be administered using suction cups… At least, in certain countries which use DNA ones, such as India. With these doses, the DNA is introduced directly into the cells, before being transformed into RNA to produce one of the proteins of the virus and thus trigger the immune response. In France, no vaccine against Covid-19 uses this process. In a published study in the magazine Science Advancesresearchers used a technique administration of the DNA vaccine using a suction cup. For this, during their laboratory tests, the scientists used a portable suction device to delivering a DNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 into skin cells. Result: the immune response was about 100 times stronger than with the vaccine injected in the conventional way. On the strength of these results, phase II clinical trials on humans have started.

A method for nucleic acid vaccines

The use of suction cups is not new. For several years, scientists have used them to heat the skin and create negative pressure, which increases blood circulation in order to promote, for example, healing. “This suction-based technique is implemented by applying moderate negative pressure to the skin after nucleic acid injection in a completely non-invasive manner. (medical examination that does not involve breaking the skin other than to draw blood or inject a product)“explains Hao Lin, one of the authors of the study. This method is easy to use, cost effective and can be developed for laboratory or clinical applications, for nucleic acid based therapies and vaccines.“ Genetic vaccination or vaccination based on nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) is quite recent – around twenty years old – in the medical world and recently known to the general public, thanks to mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. Ultimately, the results obtained by the researchers with the suction cup for DNA vaccines could therefore also be valid with RNA vaccines such as Pfizer or Moderna.

Better absorption of DNA molecules

This nucleic acid-based vaccination technique can be defined as injection in vivo of bacterial DNA encoding – synthetic or modified nucleic acids which may also be RNA – for one or more proteins with the aim of inducing a specific immune response, that of protecting against Covid-19 for these vaccines. The key step in this process is the delivery of nucleic acids into the cells as they do not enter there automatically and most will degrade rapidly…Unless they are protected as is the case in COVID-based vaccines. mRNA: Lipid nanoparticles are used to encapsulate mRNAs to protect them and help them cross the cell membrane. But, with the cupping technique, after injecting the DNA vaccine, researchers vacuum the area where the injection took place to create negative pressure on the skin. This phenomenon produced tension and relaxation in the layers of the skin, which promotes the absorption of DNA molecules by the skin cells. The vaccine is therefore more effective.

A technique to facilitate vaccination programs

“The development of improved delivery technologies plays a key role in the generalization of nucleic acid-based biological products and their clinical diffusion, of which the global distribution of vaccines is just one example.believes Hao Lin. The advantages are also the profitability of the device and (…) that it does not require extensive training to use it. (…) This technology facilitates vaccination programs in remote areas of the world where resources are limited.” So when will the use of suction cups be used to boost the effectiveness of the vaccine? If all phases of the clinical trials are validated, a marketing authorization application should be filed.