A recombinant spike protein subunit vaccine confers protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission in hamsters.

Multiple safe and effective vaccines that elicit immune responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are necessary to respond to the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we developed a protein subunit vaccine composed of spike ectodomain protein (StriFK) plus a nitrogen bisphosphonate-modified zinc-aluminum hybrid adjuvant (FH002C). StriFK-FH002C generated substantially higher neutralizing antibody titers in mice, hamsters, and cynomolgus monkeys than those observed in plasma isolated from COVID-19 convalescent individuals. StriFK-FH002C also induced both TH1- and TH2-polarized helper T cell responses in mice. In hamsters, StriFK-FH002C immunization protected animals against SARS-CoV-2 challenge, as shown by the absence of virus-induced weight loss, fewer symptoms of disease, and reduced lung pathology. Vaccination of hamsters with StriFK-FH002C also reduced within-cage virus transmission to unvaccinated, cohoused hamsters. In summary, StriFK-FH002C represents an effective, protein subunit-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate.

Effect of acupuncture combined with Shenqi Yigan Decoction on liver function and T cell subsets in patients with HBV-induced liver fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of acupuncture combined with Shenqi Yigan Decoction on liver function and T cell subsets in patients with Hepatitis B virus-induced liver fibrosis. METHODS: All of the 90 patients with HBV-induced liver fibrosis were divided into two groups with the control group (n=45) treated with the conventional treatment, and the observation group (n=45) treated with acupuncture and Shenqi Yigan decoction based on the observation group. The seroconversion rate of hepatitis Be antigen (HBeAg), the liver function, the serum indexes of liver fibrosis of hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), type III procollagen (PC III), type IV collagen (IV-C), the T cell subsets and the inflammatory factors were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: After 2 and 4 months of treatment, the HBeAg seroconversion rate of patients in the observation group was higher than that of the control group, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). And the HBeAg seroconversion rate of patients in the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group after 6 months treatment (P<0.05). After treatment, the serum levels of the liver function index of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin (Tbil), the liver fibrosis index of HA, LN, PC III, and the inflammatory factor of type IV collagen (IV-C), C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the two groups were lower than those before treatment, in addition, the levels of there index were lower in the observation group (all P<0.05). After treatment, the proportion of CD3+, CD4+ T lymphocyte subsets and CD4+/CD8+ in peripheral blood of the two groups were increased, and the proportion of CD8+ was decreased. The change range of the observation group was larger than that of the observation group (all P<0.01). The proportion of patients with liver fibrosis grade F1 in the observation group after treatment was significantly higher than that before treatment, and the proportion of patients with liver fibrosis grade F2 to F3 was significantly lower than that before treatment. There was a significant difference in liver fibrosis grade between the two groups after treatment (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The combined treatment of acupuncture and Shenqi Yigan decoction can significantly improve the liver function of patients with HBV-induced liver fibrosis, delay the progress of liver fibrosis, improve the cellular immune function and reduce the inflammatory reaction.