RESUMEN
The emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) harbor mutations associated with increasing transmission and immune escape, hence undermine the effectiveness of current COVID-19 vaccines. In late November of 2021, the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant was identified in South Africa and rapidly spread across the globe. It was shown to exhibit significant resistance to neutralization by serum not only from convalescent patients, but also from individuals receiving currently used COVID-19 vaccines with multiple booster shots. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop next generation vaccines against VOCs like Omicron. In this study, we develop a panel of mRNA-LNP-based vaccines using the receptor binding domain (RBD) of Omicron and Delta variants, which are dominant in the current wave of COVID-19. In addition to the Omicron- and Delta-specific vaccines, the panel also includes a "Hybrid" vaccine that uses the RBD containing all 16 point-mutations shown in Omicron and Delta RBD, as well as a bivalent vaccine composed of both Omicron and Delta RBD-LNP in half dose. Interestingly, both Omicron-specific and Hybrid RBD-LNP elicited extremely high titer of neutralizing antibody against Omicron itself, but few to none neutralizing antibody against other SARS-CoV-2 variants. The bivalent RBD-LNP, on the other hand, generated antibody with broadly neutralizing activity against the wild-type virus and all variants. Surprisingly, similar cross-protection was also shown by the Delta-specific RBD-LNP. Taken together, our data demonstrated that Omicron-specific mRNA vaccine can induce potent neutralizing antibody response against Omicron, but the inclusion of epitopes from other variants may be required for eliciting cross-protection. This study would lay a foundation for rational development of the next generation vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.
RESUMEN
The COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented challenge to global public health. Rapid development and deployment of safe and effective vaccines are imperative to control the pandemic. In the current study, we applied our adjuvanted stable prefusion SARS-CoV-2 spike (S-2P)-based vaccine, MVC-COV1901, to hamster models to demonstrate immunogenicity and protection from virus challenge. Golden Syrian hamsters immunized intramuscularly with two injections of 1 {micro}g or 5 {micro}g of S-2P adjuvanted with CpG 1018 and aluminum hydroxide (alum) were challenged intranasally with SARS-CoV-2. Prior to virus challenge, the vaccine induced high levels of neutralizing antibodies with 10,000-fold higher IgG level and an average of 50-fold higher pseudovirus neutralizing titers in either dose groups than vehicle or adjuvant control groups. Six days after infection, vaccinated hamsters did not display any weight loss associated with infection and had significantly reduced lung pathology and most importantly, lung viral load levels were reduced to lower than detection limit compared to unvaccinated animals. Vaccination with either 1 g or 5 g of adjuvanted S-2P produced comparable immunogenicity and protection from infection. This study builds upon our previous results to support the clinical development of MVC-COV1901 as a safe, highly immunogenic, and protective COVID-19 vaccine.
