DNA vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32434945.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.abc6284 and PMC identifier 7243363.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made the development of a vaccine a top biomedical priority. In this study, we developed a series of DNA vaccine candidates expressing different forms of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein and evaluated them in 35 rhesus macaques. Vaccinated animals developed humoral and cellular immune responses, including neutralizing antibody titers at levels comparable to those found in convalescent humans and macaques infected with SARS-CoV-2. After vaccination, all animals were challenged with SARS-CoV-2, and the vaccine encoding the full-length S protein resulted in >3.1 and >3.7 log<sub>10</sub> reductions in median viral loads in bronchoalveolar lavage and nasal mucosa, respectively, as compared with viral loads in sham controls. Vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibody titers correlated with protective efficacy, suggesting an immune correlate of protection. These data demonstrate vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates.
Medical subject headings
- Betacoronavirus
- Coronavirus Infections
- Pandemics
- Pneumonia, Viral
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
- Vaccines, DNA
- Viral Vaccines