Ga Eulhae, Won Yongkwan, Hwang Jaehyun, Moon Suyun, Yeom Minju, Lyoo Kwangsoo, Song Daesub, Han Jeonghee, Na Woonsung
College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea.
College of Veterinary Medicine and BK21 FOUR Program, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 61186, Korea.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Apr 24;10(5):676. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10050676.
COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome virus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which can infect both humans and animals. SARS-CoV-2 originated from bats and can affect various species capable of crossing the species barrier due to active mutation. Although reports on reverse zoonosis (human-to-animal transmission) of SARS-CoV-2 remain limited, reverse zoonosis has been reported in many species such as cats, tigers, minks, etc. Therefore, transmission to more animals cannot be ruled out. Moreover, the wide distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the human population could result in an increased risk of reverse zoonosis. To counteract reverse zoonosis, we developed the first COVID-19 subunit vaccines for dogs, which are representative companion animals, and the vaccine includes the SARS-CoV-2 recombinant protein of whole S1 protein and the receptor-binding domain (RBD). A subunit vaccine is a vaccine developed by purifying only the protein region that induces an immune response instead of the whole pathogen. This type of vaccine is safer than the whole virus vaccine because there is no risk of infection and proliferation through back-mutation of the virus. Vaccines were administered to beagles twice at an interval of 3 weeks subcutaneously and antibody formation rates were assessed in serum. We identified a titer, comparable to that of vaccinated people, shown to be sufficient to protect against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the vaccination of companion animals, such as dogs, may prevent reverse zoonosis by protecting animals from SARS-CoV-2; thus, reverse zoonosis of COVID-19 is preventable.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）由严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）引起，该病毒可感染人类和动物。SARS-CoV-2起源于蝙蝠，由于活跃的突变，它能够影响各种能够跨越物种屏障的物种。尽管关于SARS-CoV-2的反向人畜共患病（人传动物）的报道仍然有限，但在猫、老虎、水貂等许多物种中都有反向人畜共患病的报道。因此，不能排除向更多动物传播的可能性。此外，SARS-CoV-2在人群中的广泛传播可能会增加反向人畜共患病的风险。为了应对反向人畜共患病，我们开发了第一种针对犬类的COVID-19亚单位疫苗，犬类是具有代表性的伴侣动物，该疫苗包含整个S1蛋白的SARS-CoV-2重组蛋白和受体结合域（RBD）。亚单位疫苗是通过仅纯化诱导免疫反应的蛋白区域而不是整个病原体来开发的疫苗。这种类型的疫苗比全病毒疫苗更安全，因为不存在病毒通过回复突变进行感染和增殖的风险。以3周的间隔对比格犬进行两次皮下接种疫苗，并评估血清中的抗体形成率。我们确定了一个与接种疫苗的人相当的滴度，该滴度足以预防SARS-CoV-2。因此，对犬类等伴侣动物进行疫苗接种可能通过保护动物免受SARS-CoV-2感染来预防反向人畜共患病；因此，COVID-19的反向人畜共患病是可以预防的。
