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BMC Infect Dis
. 2026 Jan 29.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-026-12634-x. Online ahead of print.
Nucleocapsid protein enhances spike- and RBD-specific humoral and cellular immune responses in protein-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
Stina Gröhn 1 , Heini Lehto 1 , Saana Soppela 1 , Rauno A Naves 2 3 , Mikael A Ritvos 3 4 , Alina Iakubovskaia 2 , Vili Lampinen 1 , Iiris Mustonen 1 , Sanniina Pakkala 1 , Elizaveta Husu 1 , Laura Kakkola 5 6 , Ilkka Julkunen 5 6 7 , Pekka Kolehmainen 5 , Arja Pasternack 2 3 , Olli Ritvos 2 , Minna M Hankaniemi 8
Affiliations
No abstract available Keywords: Coronaviruses; Fc-fused RBD protein; Immunogenicity; Intranasal vaccination; Next-generation COVID-19 vaccines; Nucleocapsid protein; Protein subunit vaccines; SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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Conflict of interest statement
Declarations. Ethics approval: All animal experiments in this study were carried out following the Finnish Act on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific or Educational Purposes (497/2013) and the National Institutes of Health guidelines for laboratory animal care. Procedures were approved by the Regional State Administrative Agency, Pirkanmaa, Finland (decision number ESAVI/1408/2021). All animal reporting was conducted in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines. All efforts were made to minimize animal suffering and to reduce the number of animals used. The welfare of the animals was monitored throughout the experiment. Separate ethics committee or IRB approval for animal work is not applicable under Finnish regulations. Competing interests: MMH, SG and HL are inventors in a pending patent application FI 20253474 (Immunogenic composition and uses thereof). Based on the Act on the Right in Inventions in Finland, all authors employed by Tampere University have given all rights to the University and, thus, no competing interests exist. RAN, MAR and AP developed the wuRBD-mFc-8his antigen, and they own equity in Nordic SARS Response AB that holds sole ownership and commercialization rights of the wuRBD-mFc-8his cDNA (GenBank ID: PP599180.1) and its derivates used in this study. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
. 2026 Jan 29.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-026-12634-x. Online ahead of print.
Nucleocapsid protein enhances spike- and RBD-specific humoral and cellular immune responses in protein-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
Stina Gröhn 1 , Heini Lehto 1 , Saana Soppela 1 , Rauno A Naves 2 3 , Mikael A Ritvos 3 4 , Alina Iakubovskaia 2 , Vili Lampinen 1 , Iiris Mustonen 1 , Sanniina Pakkala 1 , Elizaveta Husu 1 , Laura Kakkola 5 6 , Ilkka Julkunen 5 6 7 , Pekka Kolehmainen 5 , Arja Pasternack 2 3 , Olli Ritvos 2 , Minna M Hankaniemi 8
Affiliations
- PMID: 41612250
- DOI: 10.1186/s12879-026-12634-x
No abstract available Keywords: Coronaviruses; Fc-fused RBD protein; Immunogenicity; Intranasal vaccination; Next-generation COVID-19 vaccines; Nucleocapsid protein; Protein subunit vaccines; SARS-CoV-2 virus.
PubMed Disclaimer
Conflict of interest statement
Declarations. Ethics approval: All animal experiments in this study were carried out following the Finnish Act on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific or Educational Purposes (497/2013) and the National Institutes of Health guidelines for laboratory animal care. Procedures were approved by the Regional State Administrative Agency, Pirkanmaa, Finland (decision number ESAVI/1408/2021). All animal reporting was conducted in accordance with ARRIVE guidelines. All efforts were made to minimize animal suffering and to reduce the number of animals used. The welfare of the animals was monitored throughout the experiment. Separate ethics committee or IRB approval for animal work is not applicable under Finnish regulations. Competing interests: MMH, SG and HL are inventors in a pending patent application FI 20253474 (Immunogenic composition and uses thereof). Based on the Act on the Right in Inventions in Finland, all authors employed by Tampere University have given all rights to the University and, thus, no competing interests exist. RAN, MAR and AP developed the wuRBD-mFc-8his antigen, and they own equity in Nordic SARS Response AB that holds sole ownership and commercialization rights of the wuRBD-mFc-8his cDNA (GenBank ID: PP599180.1) and its derivates used in this study. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.