A prefusion SARS-CoV-2 spike RNA vaccine is highly immunogenic and prevents lung infection in non-human primates

作者：Annette B. Vogel, Isis Kanevsky, Ye Che, Kena A. Swanson, Alexander Muik, Mathias Vormehr, Lena M. Kranz, Kerstin C. Walzer, Stephanie Hein, Alptekin Güler, Jakob Loschko, Mohan S. Maddur, Kristin Tompkins, Journey Cole, Bonny Gaby Lui, Thomas Ziegenhals, Arianne Plaschke, David Eisel, Sarah C. Dany, Stephanie Fesser, Stephanie Erbar, Ferdia Bates, Diana Schneider, Bernadette Jesionek, Bianca Sänger, Ann-Kathrin Wallisch, Yvonne Feuchter, Hanna Junginger, Stefanie A. Krumm, André P. Heinen, Petra Adams‐Quack, Julia Schlereth, Christoph Kröner, Shannan Hall-Ursone, Kathleen M. Brasky, Matthew C. Griffor, Seungil Han, Joshua A. Lees, Ellene H. Mashalidis, Parag V. Sahasrabudhe, Charles Y. Tan, Danka Pavliakova, Guy Singh, Camila R. Fontes-Garfias, Michael W. Pride, Ingrid L. Scully, Tara Ciolino, Jennifer Obregon, Michal Gaži, Ricardo Carrion, Kendra J. Alfson, Warren V. Kalina, Deepak Kaushal, Pei‐Yong Shi, Thorsten Klamp, Corinna Rosenbaum, Andreas N. Kuhn, Özlem Türeci, Philip R. Dormitzer, Kathrin U. Jansen, Uğur Şahin · 发表于：bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1101/2020.09.08.280818 · 被引用次数：139 · 研究领域：SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research、Animal Virus Infections Studies、Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

Abstract To contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a safe and effective vaccine against the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is urgently needed in quantities sufficient to immunise large populations. In this study, we report the design, preclinical development, immunogenicity and anti-viral protective effect in rhesus macaques of the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate. BNT162b2 contains an LNP-formulated nucleoside-modified mRNA that encodes the spike glycoprotein captured in its prefusion conformation. After expression of the BNT162b2 coding sequence in cells, approximately 20% of the spike molecules are in the one-RBD ‘up’, two-RBD ‘down’ state. Immunisation of mice with a single dose of BNT162b2 induced dose level-dependent increases in pseudovirus neutralisation titers. Prime-boost vaccination of rhesus macaques elicited authentic SARS-CoV-2 neutralising geometric mean titers 10.2 to 18.0 times that of a SARS-CoV-2 convalescent human serum panel. BNT162b2 generated strong T H 1 type CD4 + and IFNγ + CD8 + T-cell responses in mice and rhesus macaques. The BNT162b2 vaccine candidate fully protected the lungs of immunised rhesus macaques from infectious SARS-CoV-2 challenge. BNT162b2 is currently being evaluated in a global, pivotal Phase 2/3 trial ( NCT04368728 ).