A collaboration among University of Houston, MIT, and Harvard reports an mRNA-based adjuvant that reprograms immune cells from within to amplify T-cell responses, with potential applications in cancer immunotherapy and vaccines for infectious diseases like influenza and COVID-19.

In mouse models across multiple cancer types, the approach generated strong anti-tumor responses and, in many cases, eliminated tumors, while also enhancing responses to influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.

The adjuvant increases the number of antigen-targeted T cells when included in vaccines and boosted T-cell responses by about 10- to 15-fold for COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

Safety and delivery optimization are ongoing, with plans to expand preclinical models and move toward translational trials under clinician guidance.

Funding for the research came from Sanofi, the National Institutes of Health, the Marble Center for Cancer Nanomedicine, and the Koch Institute Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute.

The adjuvant uses mRNA to deliver instructions for two immune-related genes, IRF8 and NIK, activating pathways that enhance dendritic cell activity and subsequent T-cell activation.

Dual expression of IRF8 and NIK engages IRF8-driven dendritic cell differentiation and type I interferon responses, plus non-canonical NF-kB signaling from NIK, enabling durable immune remodeling.

Future steps include testing the platform in additional cancer models and pursuing translational studies to develop new mRNA-based cancer treatments and infectious disease vaccines under clinician guidance.

The research suggests the strategy can also enhance checkpoint inhibitor therapies and may serve as a platform to develop both cancer treatments and infectious disease vaccines.

Researchers are exploring combinations with checkpoint inhibitors and planning translational studies to assess safety, dosing, and efficacy in humans.

The study was led by Akash Gupta of UH and Daniel Anderson of MIT, with co-first authors including Riddha Das, and was published in Nature Biotechnology.

The article, published May 2026 in Nature Biotechnology, describes a versatile platform for immunomodulation with potential to extend beyond cancer to infectious disease vaccines and next-generation vaccine design.