Frontiers in Virology (May 2022)
Immune Responses of a Novel Bi-Cistronic SARS-CoV-2 DNA Vaccine Following Intradermal Immunization With Suction Delivery
- Moonsup Jeong,
- Sagar B. Kudchodkar,
- Areum Gil,
- Bohyun Jeon,
- Gee Ho Park,
- Youngran Cho,
- Hyojin Lee,
- Mi Sun Cheong,
- Wonil Kim,
- Yun-Ho Hwang,
- Jung-Ah Lee,
- Heeji Lim,
- Mi Young Kim,
- Emran O. Lallow,
- Tej Brahmbhatt,
- Stephen A. Kania,
- Nandita C. Jhumur,
- Jerry W. Shan,
- Jeffrey D. Zahn,
- David I. Shreiber,
- Jonathan P. Singer,
- Hao Lin,
- Erin K. Spiegel,
- Laurent Pessaint,
- Maciel Porto,
- Alex Van Ry,
- Danielle Nase,
- Swagata Kar,
- Hanne Andersen,
- Ian Tietjen,
- Joel Cassel,
- Joseph M. Salvino,
- Luis J. Montaner,
- Young K. Park,
- Kar Muthumani,
- Christine C. Roberts,
- Joel N. Maslow
Affiliations
- Moonsup Jeong
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Sagar B. Kudchodkar
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Areum Gil
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Bohyun Jeon
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Gee Ho Park
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Youngran Cho
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Hyojin Lee
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Mi Sun Cheong
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Wonil Kim
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Yun-Ho Hwang
- Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Center for Vaccine Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, South Korea
- Jung-Ah Lee
- Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Center for Vaccine Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, South Korea
- Heeji Lim
- Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Center for Vaccine Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, South Korea
- Mi Young Kim
- Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Center for Vaccine Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, South Korea
- Emran O. Lallow
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Tej Brahmbhatt
- Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States
- Stephen A. Kania
- Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, United States
- Nandita C. Jhumur
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Jerry W. Shan
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Jeffrey D. Zahn
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- David I. Shreiber
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Jonathan P. Singer
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Hao Lin
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States
- Erin K. Spiegel
- PharmaJet, Inc., Golden, CO, United States
- Laurent Pessaint
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Maciel Porto
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Alex Van Ry
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Danielle Nase
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Swagata Kar
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Hanne Andersen
- Bioqual, Rockville, MD, United States
- Ian Tietjen
- Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Joel Cassel
- Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Joseph M. Salvino
- Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Luis J. Montaner
- Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Young K. Park
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Kar Muthumani
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Christine C. Roberts
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- Joel N. Maslow
- GeneOne Life Science, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fviro.2022.891540
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 2
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is the third pathogenic coronavirus to emerge since 2000. Experience from prior outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV has demonstrated the importance of both humoral and cellular immunity to clinical outcome, precepts that have been recapitulated for SARS-CoV-2. Despite the unprecedented rapid development and deployment of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, more vaccines are needed to meet global demand and to guard against immune evasion by newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Here we describe the development of pGO-1002, a novel bi-cistronic synthetic DNA vaccine that encodes consensus sequences of two SARS-CoV-2 antigens, Spike and ORF3a. Mice immunized with pGO-1002 developed humoral and cellular responses to both antigens, including antibodies and capable of neutralizing infection by a clinical SARS-CoV-2 isolate. Rats immunized with pGO-1002 by intradermal (ID) injection followed by application of suction with our GeneDerm device also developed humoral responses that included neutralizing antibodies and RBD-ACE2 blocking antibodies as well as robust cellular responses to both antigens. Significantly, in a Syrian hamster vaccination and challenge model, ID+GeneDerm-assisted vaccination prevented viral replication in the lungs and significantly reduced viral replication in the nares of hamsters challenged with either an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain or the B.1.351 (Beta) variant of concern. Furthermore, vaccinated immune sera inhibited virus-mediated cytopathic effects in vitro. These data establish the immunogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate pGO-1002 which induces potent humoral and cellular responses to the Spike and ORF3a antigens and may provide greater protection against emerging variants.
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