1. A genetically engineered, stem-cell-derived cellular vaccine.
- Author
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Cooper A, Sidaway A, Chandrashekar A, Latta E, Chakraborty K, Yu J, McMahan K, Giffin V, Manickam C, Kroll K, Mosher M, Reeves RK, Gam R, Arthofer E, Choudhry M, Henley T, and Barouch DH
- Subjects
- Animals, Humans, SARS-CoV-2 genetics, COVID-19 Vaccines, Antibodies, Viral, Antibodies, Neutralizing, COVID-19 prevention & control, Viral Vaccines genetics
- Abstract
Despite rapid clinical translation of COVID-19 vaccines in response to the global pandemic, an opportunity remains for vaccine technology innovation to address current limitations and meet challenges of inevitable future pandemics. We describe a universal vaccine cell (UVC) genetically engineered to mimic natural physiological immunity induced upon viral infection of host cells. Cells engineered to express the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike as a representative viral antigen induce robust neutralizing antibodies in immunized non-human primates. Similar titers generated in this established non-human primate (NHP) model have translated into protective human neutralizing antibody levels in SARS-CoV-2-vaccinated individuals. Animals vaccinated with ancestral spike antigens and subsequently challenged with SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a heterologous challenge have an approximately 3 log decrease in viral subgenomic RNA in the lungs. This cellular vaccine is designed as a scalable cell line with a modular poly-antigenic payload, allowing for rapid, large-scale clinical manufacturing and use in an evolving viral variant environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests D.H.B. has a sponsored research collaboration funded by Intima Bioscience. Praesidium Bioscience has patents filed based on the findings described herein (application WO2021216729A1)., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2022
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