College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, Sichuan, China.
Microb Cell Fact. 2021 May 5;20(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s12934-021-01584-5.
The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) highlights the need to develop safe and effective vaccines with a top priority. Multiple vaccine candidates are under development, and several vaccines are currently available. Efforts need to be undertaken to counter the threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
We generated a Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae)-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, EBY100/pYD1-RBD, in which the full-length receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 was expressed on the surface of yeast. Mice vaccinated orally with unadjuvanted EBY100/pYD1-RBD could produce significant humoral and mucosal responses as well as robust cellular immune responses. Notably, EBY100/pYD1-RBD elicited a mixed Th1/Th2-type cellular immune response with a Th1-biased immune response in a mouse model.
Our findings highlight the importance of the RBD as a key target to design and develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and provide evidence of oral administration of a S. cerevisiae-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine eliciting significant immune responses. Most importantly, the S. cerevisiae surface display system can serve as a universal technology platform and be applied to develop other oral viral or bacterial vaccines.
由严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2）引起的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）全球大流行凸显了优先开发安全有效的疫苗的必要性。目前正在开发多种疫苗候选物，并且有几种疫苗已经可用。需要努力应对全球 COVID-19 大流行的威胁。
我们在酿酒酵母（Saccharomyces cerevisiae）中生成了一种基于酿酒酵母的 SARS-CoV-2 疫苗，EBY100/pYD1-RBD，该疫苗在酵母表面表达了全长的 SARS-CoV-2 刺突蛋白受体结合域（RBD）。未用佐剂口服接种 EBY100/pYD1-RBD 的小鼠可以产生显著的体液和粘膜反应以及强大的细胞免疫反应。值得注意的是，EBY100/pYD1-RBD 在小鼠模型中引发了混合 Th1/Th2 型细胞免疫反应，具有 Th1 偏向的免疫反应。
我们的研究结果强调了 RBD 作为设计和开发针对 SARS-CoV-2 的疫苗的关键靶标，以及口服给药的酿酒酵母 SARS-CoV-2 疫苗可引起显著免疫反应的重要性。最重要的是，酿酒酵母表面展示系统可以作为一种通用技术平台，用于开发其他口服病毒或细菌疫苗。
