Nanotechnology-Enabled COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The encyclopedia entry “Nanotechnology-enabled COVID-19 mRNA vaccines” is very well written and informative. However, a few issues need to be fixed:
- Definition section should define COVID-19 mRNA nanovaccine, what is this? Definition is not abstract.
- A few sentences are not clear: “mRNA first makes a copy of section of the DNA inside the nucleus,” – means? “The ideal host cells are a type of immune cells” – why immune cells are ideal?
- “Comparing with conventional vaccines, mRNA vaccines possess a number of advantages [7]” – should be written “Comparing with DNA vaccines” as author do not compare RNA vaccine with whole pathogen or protein-based vaccines.
- The section line 104-108, page 3, needs rewriting as immunological information provided there is not clear (oversimplified). Internal antigen is presented by MHCI by all types of cells, while MHCII is expressed only by APC and activates CD4 cells. B-cell activation crucial for antibody production need to be mentioned. So more careful description is needed, or this section should be deleted.
- Figures 1 font size is too small.
- “Transcription took place when DNA were mixed with RNAs,”- means? RNAs?
Author Response
These comments from Reviewer 1 have all been addressed in our last submitted version.
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors provided a very interesting paper on the spreading of the pandemic situation of COVI19. The topic is well expressed and defined in the introduction section.
I suggest the addition of an abbreviation list, according to the guidelines of this Journal.
A good use of English has been identified in this paper.
The scientific soundness is of course very high, and this paper needs to be published since it improves the knowledge on the topic significantly.
I suggest to cite the title of the tables in the paper text.
Table 1. could authors add the timeline of the stages of development.
Would it be interesting to add a typical pharmacokinetic diagram in section 4 ?
Authors could dedicate a brief paragraph to describe Liposomes and their main applications (they are not only employed in vaccine delivery).
Thank you.
Author Response
Your constructive comments have greatly contributed to the improvement of this entry. Thank you for your time and input.
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Authors provided a very interesting paper on the spreading of the pandemic situation of COVI19. The topic is well expressed and defined in the introduction section.
I suggest the addition of an abbreviation list, according to the guidelines of this Journal.
Response 1:
Thank you so much for the recognition of the value of this entry. A list of abbreviation has been added to the end of the article.
A good use of English has been identified in this paper.
The scientific soundness is of course very high, and this paper needs to be published since it improves the knowledge on the topic significantly.
I suggest to cite the title of the tables in the paper text.
Response 2:
As suggested we revised the first paragraph of section 4.2 and included the title of Table 2 in the text. However, we found hard to add the titles of the other Tables but the texts were already in line with the titles, therefore no changes were made for these tables.
Table 1. could authors add the timeline of the stages of development.
Response 3:
Timeline for each clinic trial is now included in Table 1.
Would it be interesting to add a typical pharmacokinetic diagram in section 4 ?
Response 4:
Typical PK profile has been included in Figure 1, and Fig legend has been updated. A separate paragraph about the PK of LNPs and factors affecting PK have been included accordingly. Please see the first paragraph of section 4.3. In addition, information about the biodegradability of the ionisable lipids and how it affects the pharmacokinetics of the formulation is included in added in the second paragraph of section 4.2.
Authors could dedicate a brief paragraph to describe Liposomes and their main applications (they are not only employed in vaccine delivery).
Response 5:
This has been added to last paragraph of section 4.1.
Reviewer 3 Report
In the article ‘Nanotechnology-enabled COVID-19 mRNA vaccines’, the authors have very nicely described the mechanism of action of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and, their safety and efficacy profile as well as LNP assisted delivery into cells. This article is very pertinent to the current times. The language is very concise and easily understandable. I recommend publication of the article upon addressing the following comment-
The authors have very nicely described the uptake of mRNA loaded lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and comment that ‘It was more recent innovations in nanotechnology for intracellular delivery that address those formidable obstacles’ in line 400-401. The authors have briefly mentioned other nano-platforms such as polymer-base nanoparticles, polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles, polypeptides, protein derivatives mRNA complexes and gold nanoparticles. Could the authors include a section on the recent innovations in nanotechnology for intercellular delivery and what makes LNPs more favorable that other nano-platforms currently available? Including this section would make the write-up more comprehensive and more informative to the readers.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.docx
Author Response
We would like to thank you for your feedback on our manuscript.
In the article ‘Nanotechnology-enabled COVID-19 mRNA vaccines’, the authors have very nicely described the mechanism of action of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and, their safety and efficacy profile as well as LNP assisted delivery into cells. This article is very pertinent to the current times. The language is very concise and easily understandable. I recommend publication of the article upon addressing the following comment-
The authors have very nicely described the uptake of mRNA loaded lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and comment that ‘It was more recent innovations in nanotechnology for intracellular delivery that address those formidable obstacles’ in line 400-401. The authors have briefly mentioned other nano-platforms such as polymer-base nanoparticles, polymer-lipid hybrid nanoparticles, polypeptides, protein derivatives mRNA complexes and gold nanoparticles. Could the authors include a section on the recent innovations in nanotechnology for intercellular delivery and what makes LNPs more favorable that other nano-platforms currently available? Including this section would make the write-up more comprehensive and more informative to the readers.
Response 1:
As suggested, we have included the advantages of LNPs over the other nanoplatforms in last paragraph of section 4.1.
