ABSTRACT
At the forefront of biopharmaceutical industry, the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology offers a flexible and scalable platform to address the urgent need for world-wide immunization in pandemic situations. This strategic powerful platform has recently been used to immunize millions of people proving both of safety and highest level of clinical efficacy against infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Here we provide preclinical report of COReNAPCIN(R); a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 infection. COReNAPCIN(R) is a nucleoside modified mRNA-based vaccine formulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for encoding the full-length prefusion stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein on the cell surface. Vaccination of C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice and rhesus macaque with COReNAPCIN(R) induced strong humoral responses with high titers of virus-binding and neutralizing antibodies. Upon vaccination, a robust SARS-CoV-2 specific cellular immunity was also observed in both mice and non-human primate models. Additionally, vaccination protected rhesus macaques from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathological damage to the lung upon challenging the animals with high viral loads of up to 2x108 live viral particles. Overall, our data provide supporting evidence for COReNAPCIN(R) as a potent vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 infection for clinical studies.
ABSTRACT
BackgroundThis study aims to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 in the general population of Iran. MethodsThe target population was all Iranian people aged six years and older in the country. A stratified random sampling design was used to select 28,314 subjects from among the individuals registered in the electronic health record systems used in primary health care in Iran. Venous blood was taken from each participant and tested for the IgG antibody against COVID-19. The prevalence of COVID-19 was estimated at provincial and national levels after adjusting for the measurement error of the laboratory test, non-response bias, and sampling design. ResultsOf the 28,314 Iranians selected, 11,256 (39.75%) participated in the study. Of these, 5406 (48.0%) were male, and 6851 (60.9%) lived in urban areas. The mean (standard deviation) participant age was 35.89 (18.61) years. The adjusted prevalence of COVID-19 until August 20, 2020 was estimated as 14.2% (95% uncertainty interval: 13.3%, 15.2%), which was equal to 11,958,346 (95% confidence interval: 11,211,011-12,746,776) individuals. The prevalence of infection was 14.6%, 13.8%, 16.6%, 11.7%, and 19.4% among men, women, urban population, rural population, and individuals [≥]60 years of age, respectively. Ardabil, Golestan, and Khuzestan provinces had the highest prevalence, and Alborz, Hormozgan, and Kerman provinces had the lowest. ConclusionsBased on the study results, a large proportion of the Iranian population had not yet been infected by COVID-19. The observance of hygienic principles and social restrictions should therefore continue until the majority of the population has been vaccinated.
