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Increased neutralization potency and breadth elicited by a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine forming virus-like particles.

Authors :
Zhang P
Falcone S
Tsybovsky Y
Singh M
Gopan V
Miao H
Seo Y
Rogers D
Renzi I
Lai YT
Narayanan E
Stewart-Jones G
Himansu S
Carfi A
Fauci AS
Lusso P
Source :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A] 2023 Jul 18; Vol. 120 (29), pp. e2305896120. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 10.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Vaccines have played a fundamental role in the control of infectious diseases. We previously developed a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against HIV-1 that forms virus-like particles (VLPs) through coexpression of the viral envelope with Gag. Here, we applied the same principle to the design of a VLP-forming mRNA vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To promote cognate interaction with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag, we engineered different chimeric proteins encompassing the ectodomain and the transmembrane region of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein from the Wuhan-Hu-1 strain fused to the gp41 cytoplasmic tail of either HIV-1 (strain WITO) or SIV (strain mac239) with or without a partial truncation at amino acid 745 to enhance membrane expression. Upon cotransfection with SIV gag mRNA, the Spike-SIV <subscript>CT.745</subscript> (SSt) chimera yielded the highest level of cell-surface expression and extracellular VLP release. Immunization of BALB/c mice with SSt+gag mRNA at 0, 4, and 16 wk induced higher titers of Spike-binding and autologous neutralizing antibodies at all time points compared to SSt mRNA alone. Furthermore, mice immunized with SSt+gag mRNA developed neutralizing antibodies effective against different variants of concern. These data demonstrate that the Gag/VLP mRNA platform can be successfully applied to vaccines against different agents for the prevention of infectious diseases of global relevance.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1091-6490
Volume :
120
Issue :
29
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
37428933
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305896120