T Cell Predominant Response to AAV-Spike Protects hACE2 Mice from SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia

ABSTRACT

Prevention of COVID-19 is widely believed to depend on neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by vaccine-induced humoral immunity1,2, raising concern that emerging escape variants may perpetuate the pandemic3-6. Here we show that a single intramuscular injection of Adeno-Associated Virus-6 (AAV6) or AAV9 encoding a modified, N-terminal domain deleted ({Delta}NTD) spike protein induces robust cellular immunity and provides long-term protection in k18-hACE2 transgenic mice from lethal SARS-CoV-2 challenge, associated weight loss and pneumonia independent of vaccine-induced neutralizing humoral immunity. In both mice and macaques, vaccine-induced cellular immunity results in the clearance of transduced muscle fibers coincident with macrophage and CD8+ cytotoxic T cell infiltration at the site of immunization. Additionally, mice demonstrate a strong Type-1 polarized cellular immunophenotype and equivalent ex vivo T cell reactivity to peptides of wt and alpha (B.1.1.7) variant spike. These studies demonstrate not only that AAV6 and AAV9 can function as effective vaccine platforms, but also that vaccines can provide long-term efficacy primarily through the induction of cellular immunity. The findings may provide an alternative approach to containment of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and have broader implications for the development of variant-agnostic universal vaccines against a wider range of pathogens.