SARS-CoV-2 Protein Subunit Vaccination of Mice and Rhesus Macaques Elicits Potent and Durable Neutralizing Antibody Responses

Overview

Journal Cell Rep Med

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
General Medicine

Date 2021 Apr 12

PMID 33842900

Citations 33

Authors

Marco Mandolesi

Daniel J Sheward

Leo Hanke

Junjie Ma

Pradeepa Pushparaj

Laura Perez Vidakovics

Changil Kim

Monika Adori

Klara Lenart

Karin Lore

Xaquin Castro Dopico

Jonathan M Coquet

Gerald M McInerney

Gunilla B Karlsson Hedestam

Ben Murrell

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The outbreak and spread of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2) is a current global health emergency, and effective prophylactic vaccines are needed urgently. The spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 mediates entry into host cells, and thus is the target of neutralizing antibodies. Here, we show that adjuvanted protein immunization with soluble SARS-CoV-2 spike trimers, stabilized in prefusion conformation, results in potent antibody responses in mice and rhesus macaques, with neutralizing antibody titers exceeding those typically measured in SARS-CoV-2 seropositive humans by more than one order of magnitude. Neutralizing antibody responses were observed after a single dose, with exceptionally high titers achieved after boosting. A follow-up to monitor the waning of the neutralizing antibody responses in rhesus macaques demonstrated durable responses that were maintained at high and stable levels at least 4 months after boosting. These data support the development of adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 prefusion-stabilized spike protein subunit vaccines.

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