A Trim-RBD-GEM vaccine candidate protects mice from SARS-CoV-2

Rina Su; Zhuangzhuang Shi; Entao Li; Menghan Zhu; Dongxu Li; Xiawei Liu; Yue Sun; Na Feng; Jianzhong Wang; Tiecheng Wang; Xianzhu Xia; Weiyang Sun; Yuwei Gao

doi:10.1016/j.virol.2023.06.005

A Trim-RBD-GEM vaccine candidate protects mice from SARS-CoV-2

Virology. 2023 Aug:585:145-154. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2023.06.005. Epub 2023 Jun 15.

Authors

Rina Su¹, Zhuangzhuang Shi¹, Entao Li², Menghan Zhu³, Dongxu Li⁴, Xiawei Liu³, Yue Sun⁵, Na Feng⁶, Jianzhong Wang⁷, Tiecheng Wang⁶, Xianzhu Xia⁸, Weiyang Sun⁹, Yuwei Gao¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science and Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China; Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China.
² College of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230000, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China; Henan International Joint Laboratory for Nuclear Protein Regulation, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China; College of Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, 030801, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China; Jilin Province Key Laboratory on Chemistry and Biology of Changbai Mountain Natural Drugs, School of Life Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China.
⁷ College of Animal Science and Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, 130118, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China; Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China. Electronic address: sunweiyang1987@163.com.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Jilin Province for Zoonosis Prevention and Control, Changchun Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130122, China; Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China. Electronic address: yuwei0901@outlook.com.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has continued for about three years since emerging in late December 2019, resulting in millions of deaths. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a safe and effective vaccine to control SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we developed a bacterium-like particle vaccine that displays the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) (named Trim-RBD-GEM) using the GEM-PA system. We evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the Trim-RBD-GEM vaccine with the oil-in-water adjuvant AddaVax in C57BL/6 N mice intramuscularly. We found that Trim-RBD-GEM&AddaVax induced high levels of humoral immunity in C57BL/6 N mice. Additionally, the lung virus loads in the immunized group were significantly decreased compared to the adjuvant control and mock groups. Therefore, this vaccine provides protection against lethal infection in a C57BL/6 N mouse model. Our Trim-RBD-GEM&AddaVax vaccine is potentially a promising, rapid, and safe subunit vaccine for preventing and controlling SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: AddaVax adjuvant; Al(OH)(3) adjuvant; Bacterium-like particle; SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

MeSH terms

Adjuvants, Immunologic
Animals
Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
Vaccines*

Substances

Addavax
Vaccines
Adjuvants, Immunologic
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
Antibodies, Viral
Antibodies, Neutralizing
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2