Institute of Diagnostic Virology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany.
Institute of Virology and Immunology, Bern and Mittelhäusern, Bern, Switzerland.
Nat Microbiol. 2024 Aug;9(8):2099-2112. doi: 10.1038/s41564-024-01755-1. Epub 2024 Jul 12.
Approved vaccines are effective against severe COVID-19, but broader immunity is needed against new variants and transmission. Therefore, we developed genome-modified live-attenuated vaccines (LAV) by recoding the SARS-CoV-2 genome, including 'one-to-stop' (OTS) codons, disabling Nsp1 translational repression and removing ORF6, 7ab and 8 to boost host immune responses, as well as the spike polybasic cleavage site to optimize the safety profile. The resulting OTS-modified SARS-CoV-2 LAVs, designated as OTS-206 and OTS-228, are genetically stable and can be intranasally administered, while being adjustable and sustainable regarding the level of attenuation. OTS-228 exhibits an optimal safety profile in preclinical animal models, with no side effects or detectable transmission. A single-dose vaccination induces a sterilizing immunity in vivo against homologous WT SARS-CoV-2 challenge infection and a broad protection against Omicron BA.2, BA.5 and XBB.1.5, with reduced transmission. Finally, this promising LAV approach could be applicable to other emerging viruses.
已批准的疫苗可有效预防重症 COVID-19,但需要针对新变体和传播获得更广泛的免疫力。因此,我们通过对 SARS-CoV-2 基因组进行重编码,包括“一停”(OTS)密码子,使 Nsp1 翻译抑制失活,并去除 ORF6、7ab 和 8,以增强宿主免疫反应,以及 Spike 多碱性切割位点,优化安全性特征,开发了基因组修饰的活减毒疫苗(LAV)。由此产生的 OTS 修饰的 SARS-CoV-2 LAV,分别命名为 OTS-206 和 OTS-228,具有遗传稳定性,可以通过鼻腔给药,同时在减毒水平上具有可调节性和可持续性。OTS-228 在临床前动物模型中表现出最佳的安全性特征,没有副作用或可检测到的传播。单次接种可在体内诱导针对同源 WT SARS-CoV-2 挑战感染的杀菌性免疫力,并对奥密克戎 BA.2、BA.5 和 XBB.1.5 广泛保护,降低传播。最后,这种有前途的 LAV 方法可能适用于其他新兴病毒。