SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Protein–Protein Conjugate Induces Similar or Better Antibody Responses as Spike mRNA in Rhesus Macaques
Puthupparampil V. Scaria,
Christopher G. Rowe,
Ivan Kosik,
Zhe Hu,
Jonathan P. Renn,
Nada Alani,
Pinar Kemanli,
Sachy Orr-Gonzalez,
Lynn E. Lambert,
Kayode Adeyemi,
Justin Y. A. Doritchamou,
Emma K. Barnafo,
Kelly M. Rausch,
Liya Muslinkina,
Robert D. Morrison,
John-Paul Todd,
Dominic Esposito,
Andrew Lees,
Jonathan Yewdell,
Patrick E. Duffy
Affiliations
Puthupparampil V. Scaria
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Christopher G. Rowe
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Ivan Kosik
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Zhe Hu
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Jonathan P. Renn
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Nada Alani
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Pinar Kemanli
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Sachy Orr-Gonzalez
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Lynn E. Lambert
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Kayode Adeyemi
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Justin Y. A. Doritchamou
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Emma K. Barnafo
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Kelly M. Rausch
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Liya Muslinkina
Structural Biology Section, Research Technologies Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Robert D. Morrison
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
John-Paul Todd
Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Dominic Esposito
Protein Expression Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21701, USA
Andrew Lees
Fina BioSolutions LLC, 9430 Key West Ave. Suite 200, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
Jonathan Yewdell
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Patrick E. Duffy
Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Background/Objectives: Rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 was pivotal to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency also provided a rare opportunity to test novel vaccine platforms such as mRNA in large clinical trials. Most of the early vaccines used SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein as the target antigen. Nevertheless, subsequent studies have shown that Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of Spike also can yield efficacious vaccines, and we previously demonstrated that chemical conjugation of RBD to a carrier protein, EcoCRM®, enhanced antibody responses and induced strong virus neutralization activity in mice. Methods: Here, we compared the immunogenicity of this conjugate to that of an approved mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech in rhesus macaques over a period of nine months. Results: AS01-adjuvanted RBD conjugate induced a similar or better antibody response, receptor binding inhibition, and virus neutralization activity against different variants of SARS-CoV-2, compared to mRNA. IgG subclass profiles induced by conjugate and mRNA vaccines were initially dominated by IgG1 and IgG3 then switched to IgG2 and IgG4 dominant profiles during the subsequent six-month period. Polyclonal immune sera from the conjugate and mRNA had similar antibody avidity at multiple time points. Conclusions: In summary, antibody responses in rhesus macaques induced by the RBD-EcoCRM conjugate and the Spike mRNA vaccine are very similar. These results demonstrate the potential for the RBD-EcoCRM conjugate as a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.
