Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of MOE/MOH, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Jiangsu Rec-Biotech Co., Ltd., Taizhou, China.
Virology. 2022 Jan;566:56-59. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2021.11.011. Epub 2021 Dec 1.
Recombinant protein subunit vaccination is considered to be a safe, fast and reliable technique when combating emerging and re-emerging diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Typically, such subunit vaccines require the addition of adjuvants to attain adequate immunogenicity. AS01, which contains adjuvants MPL and saponin QS21, is a liposome-based vaccine adjuvant system that is one of the leading candidates. However, the adjuvant effect of AS01 in COVID-19 vaccines is not well described yet.
In this study, we utilized a mixture of AS01 as the adjuvant for an S1 protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.
The adjuvanted vaccine induced robust immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding antibody and virus-neutralizing antibody responses. Importantly, two doses induced similar levels of IgG binding antibody and neutralizing antibody responses compared with three doses and the antibody responses weakened only slightly over time up to six weeks after immunization.
These results suggested that two doses may be enough for a clinical vaccine strategy design using MPL & QS21 adjuvanted recombinant protein, especially in consideration of the limited production capacity of COVID-19 vaccine in a public health emergency.
在应对新型冠状病毒病 2019（COVID-19）等新兴和再现疾病时，重组蛋白亚单位疫苗被认为是一种安全、快速和可靠的技术。通常，此类亚单位疫苗需要添加佐剂以达到足够的免疫原性。AS01 含有佐剂 MPL 和皂苷 QS21，是一种基于脂质体的疫苗佐剂系统，是领先候选物之一。然而，AS01 在 COVID-19 疫苗中的佐剂效果尚未得到很好的描述。
在这项研究中，我们使用 AS01 混合物作为基于 S1 蛋白的 COVID-19 疫苗的佐剂。
佐剂疫苗诱导了强烈的免疫球蛋白 G（IgG）结合抗体和病毒中和抗体反应。重要的是，与三剂相比，两剂诱导的 IgG 结合抗体和中和抗体反应水平相似，并且在免疫后长达 6 周的时间内，抗体反应仅略有减弱。
这些结果表明，对于使用 MPL 和 QS21 佐剂的重组蛋白的临床疫苗策略设计，两剂可能就足够了，特别是在考虑到公共卫生紧急情况下 COVID-19 疫苗的有限生产能力的情况下。
