A novel DNA and protein combination COVID-19 vaccine formulation provides full protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques
Yuzhong Li, Yanwei Bi, Hongjian Xiao, Yueting Yao, Xiaojuan Liu, Zhengrong Hu, Jinmei Duan, Yaoyun Yang, Zhihua Li, Yadong Li, Heng Zhang, Chen Ding, Jianbo Yang, Haiwei Li, Zhanlong He, Longding Liu, Guangnan Hu, Shuying Liu, Yanchun Che, Shixia Wang, Qihan Li, Shan Lu, Wei Cun
Abstract
The current study aims to develop a safe and highly immunogenic COVID-19 vaccine. The novel combination of a DNA vaccine encoding the full-length Spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 and a recombinant S1 protein vaccine induced high level neutralizing antibody and T cell immune responses in both small and large animal models. More significantly, the co-delivery of DNA and protein components at the same time elicited full protection against intratracheal challenge of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in immunized rhesus macaques. As both DNA and protein vaccines have been proven safe in previous human studies, and DNA vaccines are capable of eliciting germinal center B cell development, which is critical for high-affinity memory B cell responses, the DNA and protein co-delivery vaccine approach has great potential to serve as a safe and effective approach to develop COVID-19 vaccines that provide long-term protection.