Efficacy of a stable broadly protective subunit vaccine platform against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern
Date
2024-05
Authors
Garg, Ravendra
Liu, Qiang
Kessel, Jill Van
Asavajaru, Akarin
Uhlemann, Eva-Maria
Joessel, Morgane
Hamonic, Glenn
khatooni, zahed
Kroeker, Andrea
Lew, Jocelyne
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ScienceDirect
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Article
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Abstract
The emergence and ongoing evolution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has highlighted the need for rapid vaccine development platforms that can be updated to counteract emerging variants of currently circulating and future emerging coronaviruses. Here we report the development of a “train model” subunit vaccine platform that contains a SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan S1 protein (the “engine”) linked to a series of flexible receptor binding domains (RBDs; the “cars”) derived from SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs). We demonstrate that these linked subunit vaccines when combined with Sepivac SWE™, a squalene in water emulsion (SWE) adjuvant, are immunogenic in Syrian hamsters and subsequently provide protection from infection with SARS-CoV-2 VOCs Omicron (BA.1), Delta, and Beta. Importantly, the bivalent and trivalent vaccine candidates offered protection against some heterologous SARS-CoV-2 VOCs that were not included in the vaccine design, demonstrating the potential for broad protection against a range of different VOCs. Furthermore, these formulated vaccine candidates were stable at 2–8 °C for up to 13 months post-formulation, highlighting their utility in low-resource settings. Indeed, our vaccine platform will enable the development of safe and broadly protective vaccines against emerging betacoronaviruses that pose a significant health risk for humans and agricultural animals.
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Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, betacoronaviruses, agricultural animals
Citation
Garg, R., Liu, Q., Van Kessel, J., Asavajaru, A., Uhlemann, E.-M., Joessel, M., Hamonic, G., Khatooni, Z., Kroeker, A., Lew, J., Scruten, E., Pennington, P., Deck, W., Prysliak, T., Nickol, M., Apel, F., Courant, T., Kelvin, A. A., Van Kessel, A., … Banerjee, A. (2024). Efficacy of a stable broadly protective subunit vaccine platform against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Vaccine, 42(20), 125980–125980. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.05.028
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.05.028