ABSTRACT
The current study aims to develop a safe and highly immunogenic COVID-19 vaccine. The novel combination of a DNA vaccine encoding the full-length Spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 and a recombinant S1 protein vaccine induced high level neutralizing antibody and T cell immune responses in both small and large animal models. More significantly, the co-delivery of DNA and protein components at the same time elicited full protection against intratracheal challenge of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in immunized rhesus macaques. As both DNA and protein vaccines have been proven safe in previous human studies, and DNA vaccines are capable of eliciting germinal center B cell development, which is critical for high-affinity memory B cell responses, the DNA and protein co-delivery vaccine approach has great potential to serve as a safe and effective approach to develop COVID-19 vaccines that provide long-term protection.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Vaccines/immunology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology , Vaccines, DNA/immunology , Vaccines, Subunit/immunology , Animals , Antibodies, Neutralizing/blood , Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Cell Line , DNA/immunology , HEK293 Cells , Humans , Lymphocyte Count , Macaca mulatta , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Plasmids/genetics , Rabbits , Recombinant Proteins/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , T-Lymphocytes/immunologyABSTRACT
Since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in humans in late 2019, it has rapidly spread worldwide. To identify the biological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in a normal laboratory environment (biosafety level 2 [BSL-2]), a lentiviral-based nucleocapsid was used to carry the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 onto the surface of pseudoviral particles as a surrogate model to evaluate the infective characterization of SARS-CoV-2. This study indicated that SARS-CoV-2 has extensive tissue tropism for humans and may infect monkeys and tree shrews but not rodents. More importantly, the use of pseudoviral particles in this study allows rapid assessment of neutralizing antibodies in serum in a BSL-2 laboratory. This study will provide a quick and easy tool for evaluating neutralizing antibodies in the serum of recovering patients and assessing the potency of candidate vaccines.