Versatile live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine platform applicable to variants induces protective immunity
Akiho Yoshida, Shinya Okamura, Shiho Torii, Sayuri Komatsu, Paola Miyazato, Hitomi Sasaki, Shiori Ueno, Hidehiko Suzuki, Wataru Kamitani, Chikako Ono, Yoshiharu Matsuura, Shiro Takekawa, Koichi Yamanishi, Hirotaka Ebina
Abstract
. The vaccine induced an effective cross-reactive immune response and protected hamsters against homologous or heterologous viral challenges. Importantly, rTS-all rarely reverted to the wild-type phenotype. By combining these mutations with an Omicron spike protein to construct a recombinant virus, protection against the Omicron strain was obtained. We show that immediate and effective live-attenuated vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 variants may be developed using rTS-all as a backbone to incorporate the spike protein of the variants.