{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,30]],"date-time":"2026-10-30T17:05:46Z","timestamp":1793379946166,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,18]],"date-time":"2026-02-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771372800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Syphilis is a sexually or vertically transmitted disease caused by the infection of\n                      <jats:italic>Treponema pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                      (\n                      <jats:italic>T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                      ). Syphilis prevalence has risen globally despite the availability of effective treatments. The development of a syphilis vaccine is crucial for controlling disease spread and severity. Over the decades, a variety of strategies have been examined including inactivated bacteria, subunit recombinant proteins and DNA vaccines, some of which showed promising results. Recent years, mRNA vaccines have become next-generationapproaches against infectious diseases.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this study, we successfully constructed a TP0954 mRNA vaccine and confirmed the immunogenicity of the mRNA vaccine in BALB\/c mice and New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. Then the protective immunity was assessed in immunized NZW rabbits.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our mRNA vaccine elicited humoral and cellular immunological responses both in BALB\/c mice and NZW rabbits. Moreover, TP0954 mRNA vaccine was more effective in attenuating lesion development compared with TP0954 protein vaccine. Similarly, the\n                      <jats:italic>T. pallidum<\/jats:italic>\n                      burdens at the challenge sites and distal organs in rabbits immunized with TP0954 mRNA vaccine were lower compared with TP0954 recombinant protein vaccine.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Therefore, we successfully constructed a novel mRNA vaccine targeting TP0954 for syphilis and found superior immune protective effects compared with TP0954 recombinant protein vaccine, further confirming that TP0954 is a promising vaccine candidate for syphilis.<\/jats:p>\n                  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Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College","place":["Kunming, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College","place":["Kunming, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rui-Li","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University","place":["Nanjing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College","place":["Kunming, 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