New nasal vaccine protects lungs for months against viruses, bacteria, and allergens

Mouse study describes a nasal vaccine that protected lungs for months against respiratory threats.

Published on Feb. 22, 2026

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Researchers from Stanford Medicine have developed a new intranasal vaccine formula that protected mice for months against several respiratory viruses, two bacteria that often cause hospital infections, and even an allergen linked to asthma. The vaccine does not try to mimic a specific virus or bacterium, but instead mimics the signals immune cells use to coordinate during infection, keeping the lungs in a ready state. The study reports long-lasting, broad protection against a range of respiratory threats, suggesting the potential for a 'universal vaccine' against diverse respiratory challenges.

Why it matters

Current vaccine approaches can stumble when pathogens quickly mutate, so a truly broad, catch-all respiratory vaccine has long seemed unrealistic. This new approach focuses on engaging the innate immune system to provide durable, non-specific protection, which could be a game-changer for respiratory health and disease prevention.

The details

The vaccine, described as GLA-3M-052-LS + OVA, combines two immune stimulants (a TLR4 agonist and a TLR7/8 agonist) along with a harmless antigen (ovalbumin). This combination is designed to act as a strong 'danger' signal for innate immune cells while also recruiting and anchoring T cells in the lungs to sustain the protective response. After intranasal vaccination, mice showed robust and long-lasting protection against SARS-CoV-2, influenza, bacterial infections, and even allergen-induced asthma symptoms, with effects persisting for at least 3 months.

  • The study's experiments were conducted over a period of several months, with mice challenged with various respiratory threats at 21 days, 42 days, and 3 months after vaccination.

The players

Bali Pulendran

The Violetta L. Horton Professor II and a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, who led the research team.

Haibo Zhang

The study's lead author, a postdoctoral scholar in Pulendran's lab.

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What they’re saying

“I think what we have is a universal vaccine against diverse respiratory threats.”

— Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton Professor, Director, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology (Science)

“We were interested in this idea because it sounded a bit outrageous. I think nobody was seriously entertaining that something like this could ever be possible.”

— Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton Professor, Director, Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology (Science)

What’s next

The researchers note that the work is still in the mouse model stage, and that controlled human infection studies would be essential to evaluate this approach in 'immunologically experienced humans'.

The takeaway

This novel nasal vaccine approach, which engages the innate immune system to provide broad and durable protection against respiratory threats, represents a potential paradigm shift in vaccinology and could have far-reaching implications for respiratory health and disease prevention.