A Highly Conserved Peptide Vaccine Candidate Activates Both Humoral and Cellular Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 Variant Strains

作者：Fengxia Gao, Jingjing Huang, Tingting Li, Chao Hu, Meiying Shen, Song Mu, Feiyang Luo, Shuyi Song, Yanan Hao, Wang Wang, Xiaojian Han, Qian Chen, Yingming Wang, Rui‐Xin Wu, Li Luo, Shenglong Li, Aishun Jin · 发表于：Frontiers in Immunology · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2021.789905 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research、COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies、vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches

Facing the imminent need for vaccine candidates with cross-protection against globally circulating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mutants, we present a conserved antigenic peptide RBD9.1 with both T-cell and B-cell epitopes. RBD9.1 can be recognized by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescent serum, particularly for those with high neutralizing potency. Immunization with RBD9.1 can successfully induce the production of the receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific antibodies in Balb/c mice. Importantly, the immunized sera exhibit sustained neutralizing efficacy against multiple dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant strains, including B.1.617.2 that carries a point mutation (S L452R ) within the sequence of RBD9.1. Specifically, S Y451 and S Y454 are identified as the key amino acids for the binding of the induced RBD-specific antibodies to RBD9.1. Furthermore, we have confirmed that the RBD9.1 antigenic peptide can induce a S 448-456 (NYNYLYRLF)-specific CD8 + T-cell response. Both RBD9.1-specific B cells and the S 448-456 -specific T cells can still be activated more than 3 months post the last immunization. This study provides a potential vaccine candidate that can generate long-term protective efficacy over SARS-CoV-2 variants, with the unique functional mechanism of activating both humoral and cellular immunity.