tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Med Virol
. 2020 Jul 21.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.26320. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 S1 is superior to the RBD as a COVID-19 subunit vaccine antigen
Yunfei Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lichun Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Han Cao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cunbao Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Since its emergence in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has developed into a global pandemic within a matter of months. While subunit vaccines are one of the prominent options for combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the immunogenicity of spike protein-based antigens remains unknown. When immunized in mice, the S1 domain induced much higher IgG and IgA antibody levels than the RBD and more efficiently neutralized SARS-CoV-2 when adjuvanted with alum. It is inferred that a large proportion of these neutralization epitopes are located in the S1 domain but outside the RBD and that some of these are spatial epitopes. This finding indicates that expression systems with posttranslational modification abilities are important to maintain the natural configurations of recombinant spike protein antigens and are critical for effective COVID-19 vaccines. Further, adjuvants prone to a Th1 response should be considered for S1-based subunit COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the potential risk of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19; S1; SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccine; Spike protein; antibody-dependent enhancement; receptor-binding domain.
. 2020 Jul 21.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.26320. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 S1 is superior to the RBD as a COVID-19 subunit vaccine antigen
Yunfei Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lichun Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Han Cao[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cunbao Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32691875
- DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26320
Abstract
Since its emergence in December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has developed into a global pandemic within a matter of months. While subunit vaccines are one of the prominent options for combating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the immunogenicity of spike protein-based antigens remains unknown. When immunized in mice, the S1 domain induced much higher IgG and IgA antibody levels than the RBD and more efficiently neutralized SARS-CoV-2 when adjuvanted with alum. It is inferred that a large proportion of these neutralization epitopes are located in the S1 domain but outside the RBD and that some of these are spatial epitopes. This finding indicates that expression systems with posttranslational modification abilities are important to maintain the natural configurations of recombinant spike protein antigens and are critical for effective COVID-19 vaccines. Further, adjuvants prone to a Th1 response should be considered for S1-based subunit COVID-19 vaccines to reduce the potential risk of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Keywords: COVID-19; S1; SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccine; Spike protein; antibody-dependent enhancement; receptor-binding domain.