Frontiers in Immunology (Jul 2022)

A mRNA Vaccine Encoding for a RBD 60-mer Nanoparticle Elicits Neutralizing Antibodies and Protective Immunity Against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Transgenic K18-hACE2 Mice

  • Pascal Brandys,
  • Xavier Montagutelli,
  • Irena Merenkova,
  • Güliz T. Barut,
  • Güliz T. Barut,
  • Volker Thiel,
  • Volker Thiel,
  • Volker Thiel,
  • Nicholas J. Schork,
  • Bettina Trüeb,
  • Bettina Trüeb,
  • Laurine Conquet,
  • Aihua Deng,
  • Aleksandar Antanasijevic,
  • Hyun-Ku Lee,
  • Martine Valière,
  • Anoop Sindhu,
  • Gita Singh,
  • Jens Herold

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.912898
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic there is still a need for vaccines to effectively control the spread of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants and associated cases of severe disease. Here we report a messenger RNA vaccine directly encoding for a nanoparticle displaying 60 receptor binding domains (RBDs) of SARS-CoV-2 that acts as a highly effective antigen. A construct encoding the RBD of the Delta variant elicits robust neutralizing antibody response, and also provides protective immunity against the Delta variant in a widely used transgenic mouse model. We ultimately find that the proposed mRNA RBD nanoparticle-based vaccine provides a flexible platform for rapid development and will likely be of great value in combatting current and future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

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