Campbell Elliot, Dobkin Julie, Osorio Louis J, Kolloli Afsal, Ramasamy Santhamani, Kumar Ranjeet, Sant'Angelo Derek B, Subbian Selvakumar, Denzin Lisa K, Anderson Stephen
Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Macrotope, Inc., Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Apr 12;11(4):832. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040832.
The rapid development of several highly efficacious SARS-CoV-2 vaccines was an unprecedented scientific achievement that saved millions of lives. However, now that SARS-CoV-2 is transitioning to the endemic stage, there exists an unmet need for new vaccines that provide durable immunity and protection against variants and can be more easily manufactured and distributed. Here, we describe a novel protein component vaccine candidate, MT-001, based on a fragment of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that encompasses the receptor binding domain (RBD). Mice and hamsters immunized with a prime-boost regimen of MT-001 demonstrated extremely high anti-spike IgG titers, and remarkably this humoral response did not appreciably wane for up to 12 months following vaccination. Further, virus neutralization titers, including titers against variants such as Delta and Omicron BA.1, remained high without the requirement for subsequent boosting. MT-001 was designed for manufacturability and ease of distribution, and we demonstrate that these attributes are not inconsistent with a highly immunogenic vaccine that confers durable and broad immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants. These properties suggest MT-001 could be a valuable new addition to the toolbox of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and other interventions to prevent infection and curtail additional morbidity and mortality from the ongoing worldwide pandemic.
几种高效的严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）疫苗的迅速研发是一项前所未有的科学成就，拯救了数百万人的生命。然而，鉴于SARS-CoV-2正在过渡到流行阶段，对新型疫苗存在未满足的需求，这种疫苗需要提供持久的免疫力并抵御病毒变体，而且能够更易于生产和分发。在此，我们描述了一种新型的蛋白质组分候选疫苗MT-001，它基于SARS-CoV-2刺突蛋白中包含受体结合域（RBD）的片段。用MT-001的初免-加强免疫方案免疫的小鼠和仓鼠表现出极高的抗刺突IgG滴度，而且值得注意的是，这种体液反应在接种疫苗后的长达12个月内并未明显减弱。此外，病毒中和滴度，包括针对Delta和Omicron BA.1等变体的滴度，在无需后续加强免疫的情况下仍保持高位。MT-001的设计考虑了可生产性和易于分发，并且我们证明这些特性与一种能对SARS-CoV-2及其新出现的变体赋予持久和广泛免疫力的高免疫原性疫苗并不矛盾。这些特性表明MT-001可能是SARS-CoV-2疫苗工具箱以及其他预防感染和减少当前全球大流行带来的额外发病率和死亡率的干预措施中一个有价值的新成员。
