Protection against SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant in mRNA-1273 vaccine–boosted nonhuman primates
Kizzmekia S. Corbett, Matthew Gagné, Danielle A. Wagner, Sarah O’ Connell, Sandeep Narpala, Dillon R. Flebbe, Shayne F. Andrew, Rachel L. Davis, Barbara J. Flynn, Timothy S. Johnston, Christopher D. Stringham, Lilin Lai, Daniel Valentin, Alex Van Ry, Zackery Flinchbaugh, Anne P. Werner, Juan I. Moliva, Manjari Sriparna, Sijy O’Dell, Stephen D. Schmidt, Courtney Tucker, Angela Choi, Matthew Koch, Kevin W. Bock, Mahnaz Minai, Bianca M. Nagata, Gabriela Alvarado, Amy R. Henry, Farida Laboune, Chaim A. Schramm, Yi Zhang, Eun Sung Yang, Lingshu Wang, Misook Choe, Seyhan Boyoglu-Barnum, Wei Shi, Evan Lamb, Saule Nurmukhambetova, Samantha J. Provost, Mitzi M. Donaldson, Josue Marquez, John-Paul Todd, Anthony Cook, Alan Dodson, Andrew Pekosz, Eli Boritz, Aurélie Ploquin, Nicole A. Doria‐Rose, Laurent Pessaint, Hanné Andersen, Kathryn E. Foulds, John Misasi, Kaichun Wu, Andrea Carfı́, Martha Nason, John R. Mascola, Ian N. Moore, Darin K. Edwards, Mark G. Lewis, Mehul S. Suthar, Mario Roederer, Adrian B. McDermott, Daniel C. Douek, Nancy J. Sullivan, Barney S. Graham, Robert A. Seder
Abstract
Neutralizing antibody responses gradually wane against several variants of concern (VOCs) after vaccination with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine messenger RNA-1273 (mRNA-1273). We evaluated the immune responses in nonhuman primates that received a primary vaccination series of mRNA-1273 and were boosted about 6 months later with either homologous mRNA-1273 or heterologous mRNA-1273.β, which encompasses the spike sequence of the B.1.351 Beta variant. After boost, animals had increased neutralizing antibody responses across all VOCs, which was sustained for at least 8 weeks after boost. Nine weeks after boost, animals were challenged with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant. Viral replication was low to undetectable in bronchoalveolar lavage and significantly reduced in nasal swabs in all boosted animals, suggesting that booster vaccinations may be required to sustain immunity and protection.