An effective, safe and cost-effective cell-based chimeric vaccine against SARS-CoV2

zhenguo Cheng, Danhua Zhang, Xiaowen Liu, Jinxin Miao, Jiaoyao wang, Haoran Guo, Wenli Yan, Zhe Zhang, Shuangshuang Lu, Na Zhang, Jingjing Wang, Zhongxian Zhang, Wei Liu, Yi Zhang, Lirong Zhang, Jianzeng Dong, Nicholas R Lemoine, Yaohe Wang

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.19.258244

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].

PDF: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.19.258244v1.full.pdf

Abstract

More than one hundred vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been developed and some of them have entered clinical trials, but the latest results revealed that these vaccines still face great challenges. Here, we developed a novel cell-based gp96-Ig-secreting chimeric vaccine which is composed of two viral antigens, the RBD of spike protein, and a truncated nucleocapsid protein that could induce epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes but low antibody response. Syrian hamsters immunized with the cell-based vaccine produced high level of SARS-CoV-2 specific NAbs and specific T cell immunity which could eliminate RBD-truncated N-expressing cells, without the induction of antibody against N protein and other observed toxicity. This study provides a proof of concept for clinical testing of this safe, effective and cost-effective vaccine against SARS-CoV2 infection.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.19.258244v1