scholarly journals Peritoneal Administration of a Subunit Vaccine Encapsulated in a Nanodelivery System Not Only Augments Systemic Responses against SARS-CoV-2 but Also Stimulates Responses in the Respiratory Tract

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2202
Author(s):  
Tuksin Jearanaiwitayakul ◽  
Suttikarn Apichirapokey ◽  
Runglawan Chawengkirttikul ◽  
Jitra Limthongkul ◽  
Mathurin Seesen ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has currently created an unprecedented threat to human society and global health. A rapid mass vaccination to create herd immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is a crucial measure to ease the spread of this disease. Here, we investigated the immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccine candidate, a SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein encapsulated in N,N,N-trimethyl chitosan particles or S-TMC NPs. Upon intraperitoneal immunization, S-TMC NP-immunized mice elicited a stronger systemic antibody response, with neutralizing capacity against SARS-CoV-2, than mice receiving the soluble form of S-glycoprotein. S-TMC NPs were able to stimulate the circulating IgG and IgA as found in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. In addition, spike-specific T cell responses were drastically activated in S-TMC NP-immunized mice. Surprisingly, administration of S-TMC NPs via the intraperitoneal route also stimulated SARS-CoV-2-specific immune responses in the respiratory tract, which were demonstrated by the presence of high levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and IgA in the lung homogenates and bronchoalveolar lavages of the immunized mice. We found that peritoneal immunization with spike nanospheres stimulates both systemic and respiratory mucosal immunity.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-En Lien ◽  
Tsun-Yung Kuo ◽  
Yi-Jiun Lin ◽  
Wei-Cheng Lian ◽  
Meei-Yun Lin ◽  
...  

Vaccination is currently the best weapon to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, an alarming number of novel variants termed Variants of Concern (VoC) were found to harbor mutations that diminished the neutralizing capacity of antibodies elicited by the vaccines. We have investigated the neutralizing titers of antibodies from sera of humans and rats immunized with the MVC-COV1901 vaccine against pseudoviruses coated with the wildtype, D614G, B.1.1.7, or B.1.351 spike proteins. Rats vaccinated with two doses of adjuvanted S-2P retained neutralization activities against the B.1.351 variant, albeit with a slight reduction compared to wildtype. Phase 1 vaccinated subjects showed more reduced neutralization abilities against the B.1.351 variant. The study is among the first, to our knowledge, to demonstrate dose-dependent neutralizing responses against VoCs, particularly against B.1.351, from different doses of antigen in a clinical trial for a subunit protein COVID-19 vaccine. The appearance of vaccine escape variants is a growing concern facing many current COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Strategies should be adopted against the ever-changing nature of these variants. The observations of this study grant us valuable insight into preemptive strikes against current and future variants.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomabu Adjobimey ◽  
Julia Meyer ◽  
Leander Sollberg ◽  
Michael Bawolt ◽  
Christina Berens ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUNDSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the resulting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have afflicted millions of people in a worldwide pandemic. Several vaccines have been developed to prevent infection and illness. However, the safety and efficacy of most of the vaccines currently available are still being questioned by part of the public opinion. Even if vaccine-resistant individuals represent a minority in most countries, their hesitancy is sufficient to delay the highly desired ‘herd-immunity threshold.’ METHODSIn an ongoing multinational trial, we collected blood samples from 365 adults, 18 years of age or older, vaccinated with mRNA vaccines (Moderna, BioNTech), viral DNA-vectored vaccines (AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V, and Johnson and Johnson), or the attenuated virus vaccine from Sinopharm. Out of the 365 vaccinated individuals included in the study, 41 received two doses of Moderna Biotech's Spikevax, 92 received two doses of BioNTech’s Comirnaty, 52 were vaccinated with two doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria, 34 received one dose of Johnson and Johnson’s Jansen, 35 two doses of Gamaleja’s Sputnik-V and 28 two doses of Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV. In addition, 40 received a prime dose of AstraZeneca followed by BioNTech as a booster, whereas 43 received Moderna’s vaccine as a booster after a prime dose of AstraZeneca. After collecting reactogenicity data, the expression of S-Protein binding IgG and IgA were analyzed before and after full vaccination in each group using an automated sandwich ELISA system. In addition, the neutralizing capacity of sera from individuals from all groups was investigated using an ACE-2-RBD neutralizing assay. RESULTSThe main side effects reported included short-term mild-to-moderate pain at the injection site, fatigue, and headache. More severe side effects were reported by vaccinees in the Moderna (10%), AstraZeneca (11%), Johnson and Johnson (5.9%), and Sputnik-V (7.2%) groups. No severe adverse reaction was reported in the BioNTech group, and the Sinopharm vaccinees presented the mildest reactogenicity profile, with 93.8% of the vaccinees declaring no adverse reactions. Moderna’s vaccine induced the highest amounts of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG, IgA, and serum neutralization activity compared to the other groups. In contrast, people vaccinated with Sinopharm and Johnson and Johnson’s vaccines have the lowest SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody titers. Vaccinees from the Johnson and Johnson group presented significant levels of SARS-CoV-2 specific IgA but not IgG compared to the controls before vaccination. In the Sinopharm group, neither IgG nor IgA expression was significant. In addition, sera from vaccinees of these two groups presented no significant neutralization potential compared to the unvaccinated controls. Significant negative correlations between age and SARS-CoV-2- specific IgG expression were observed in the Johnson and Johnson (r=-0.4414, p=0.009) and Sinopharm (r=-0.6108, p=0.0006) groups. Remarkably, younger vaccinees (18-60 years old) in both Sinopharm and Johnson and Johnson groups produced substantial SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody expression and exhibited significant neutralization potential. While the AstraZeneca vaccine alone induced moderate IgG and IgA expression, the combination with Moderna or BioNTech mRNA vaccines induced higher antibody levels than a double dose of AstraZeneca and similar IgG expression and neutralization potential compared to Moderna, or BioNTech used alone. CONCLUSIONThe results suggest that the Moderna vaccine is the most immunogenic after two doses. AstraZeneca and Sputnik-V presented moderate but significant antibody expression and virus neutralizing properties. Low antibody and neutralization potential was observed in the elderly vaccinated with Sinopharm or Johnson and Johnson vaccines. The data also suggest that heterologous vaccination strategies combining the AstraZeneca DNA vectored vaccines and mRNA vaccines Moderna or BioNTech booster induced more robust antibody and virus neutralization potential compared to their homologous counterparts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 101329
Author(s):  
Emanuel Gumina ◽  
Jeffrey W. Hall ◽  
Bruno Vecchi ◽  
Xochitl Hernandez-Velasco ◽  
Brett Lumpkins ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahao Ma ◽  
Danmei Su ◽  
Yinyan Sun ◽  
Xueqin Huang ◽  
Ying Liang ◽  
...  

Within a year after its emergence, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 100 million people worldwide with a death toll over 2 million. Vaccination remains the best hope to ultimately put this pandemic to an end. Here, using Trimer-Tag technology, we produced both wild-type (WT) and furin site mutant (MT) S-Trimers for COVID-19 vaccine studies. Cryo-EM structures of the WT and MT S-Trimers, determined at 3.2 Å and 2.6 Å respectively, revealed that both antigens adopt a tightly closed conformation and their structures are essentially identical to that of the previously solved full-length WT S protein in detergent. The tightly closed conformation is stabilized by fatty acid and polysorbate 80 binding at the receptor binding domains (RBDs) and the N terminal domains (NTDs) respectively. Additionally, we identified an important pH switch in the WT S-Trimer that shows dramatic conformational change and accounts for its increased stability at lower pH. These results validate Trimer-Tag as a platform technology in production of metastable WT S-Trimer as a candidate for COVID-19 subunit vaccine. IMPORTANCE Effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is critical to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, using Trimer-Tag technology, we are able to produce stable and large quantities of WT S-Trimer, a subunit vaccine candidate for COVID-19 with high safety and efficacy from animal and Phase 1 clinical trial studies. Cryo-EM structures of the S-Trimer subunit vaccine candidate show that it predominately adopts tightly closed pre-fusion state, and resembles that of the native and full-length spike in detergent, confirming its structural integrity. WT S-Trimer is currently being evaluated in global Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Combining with published structures of the S protein, we also propose a model to dissect the conformation change of the spike protein before receptor binding.


Author(s):  
Morihito Takita ◽  
Tomoko Matsumura ◽  
Kana Yamamoto ◽  
Erika Yamashita ◽  
Kazutaka Hosoda ◽  
...  

AbstractThe serosurvey is an alternative way to know the magnitude of the population infected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since the expansion of capacity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was delayed. We herein report seroprevalence of COVID-19 accessed in the two community clinics in Tokyo. The point-of-care immunodiagnostic test was implemented to detect the SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG antibody in the peripheral capillary blood. The overall positive percentage of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody is 3.83% (95% confidence interval: 2.76-5.16) for the entire cohort (n =1,071). The central Tokyo of 23 special wards exhibited a significantly higher prevalence compared to the other area of Tokyo (p =0.02, 4.68% [95%CI: 3.08-6.79] versus 1.83 [0.68-3.95] in central and suburban Tokyo, respectively). The seroprevalence of the cohort surveyed in this study is low for herd immunity, which suggests the need for robust disease control and prevention. A community-based approach, rather than state or prefectural levels, is of importance to figure out profiles of the SARS-COV-2 outbreak.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalila Mele ◽  
Anna Calastri ◽  
Eugenia Maiorano ◽  
Antonella Cerino ◽  
Michele Sachs ◽  
...  

Olfactory and taste disorders (OTD) are commonly found as presenting symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with clinically mild COVID-19. Virus-specific T cells are thought to play an important role in the clearance of SARS-CoV-2; therefore the study of T cell specific immune responses in patients with mild symptoms may help to understand their possible role in protection from severe disease. We evaluated SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses to four different peptide megapools covering all SARS-CoV-2 proteins during the acute phase of the disease in 33 individuals with mild or no other symptom beside OTD and in 22 age-matched patients with severe infection. A control group of 15 outpatients with OTD and consistently negative nasopharyngeal SARS-CoV-2 RNA swabs and virus-specific IgG serology was included in the study. Increased frequencies of virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were found in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with OTD compared with those with severe COVID-19 and with SARS-CoV-2 negative OTD individuals. Moreover, enhanced CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation induced by SARS-CoV-2 peptides was associated with higher interferon (IFN)γ production. Increased frequencies of Spike (S1/S2)-specific CD4+ T cells showing enhanced IFNγ secretion and granzyme B content were associated with serum spike-specific IgG in the OTD group. In conclusion, patients with SARS-CoV-2 induced OTD develop highly functional virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during the symptomatic phase of the disease, suggesting that robust and coordinated T-cell responses provide protection against extension of COVID-19 to the lower respiratory tract.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1541-1548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Murshid Alam ◽  
Daniel T. Leung ◽  
Marjahan Akhtar ◽  
Mohammad Nazim ◽  
Sarmin Akter ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAntibody avidity for antigens following disease or vaccination increases with affinity maturation and somatic hypermutation. In this study, we followed children and adults in Bangladesh for 1 year following oral cholera vaccination and measured the avidity of antibodies to the T cell-dependent antigen cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) and the T cell-independent antigen lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in comparison with responses in other immunological measurements. Children produced CTB-specific IgG and IgA antibodies of high avidity following vaccination, which persisted for several months; the magnitudes of responses were comparable to those seen in adult vaccinees. The avidity of LPS-specific IgG and IgA antibodies in vaccinees increased significantly shortly after the second dose of vaccine but waned rapidly to baseline levels thereafter. CTB-specific memory B cells were present for only a short time following vaccination, and we did not find significant memory B cell responses to LPS in any age group. For older children, there was a significant correlation between CTB-specific memory T cell responses after the second dose of vaccine and CTB-specific IgG antibody avidity indices over the subsequent year. These findings suggest that vaccination induces a longer-lasting increase in the avidity of antibodies to a T cell-dependent antigen than is measured by a memory B cell response to that antigen and that early memory T cell responses correlate well with the subsequent development of higher-avidity antibodies.


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