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Guo Y, He W, Mou H, Zhang L, Chang J, Peng S, Ojha A, Tavora R, Parcells MS, Luo G, Li W, Zhong G, Choe H, Farzan M, Quinlan BD. An Engineered Receptor-Binding Domain Improves the Immunogenicity of Multivalent SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines. mBio 2021; 12:mBio.00930-21. [PMID: 33975938 DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.10.036418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein mediates viral entry into cells expressing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S protein engages ACE2 through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), an independently folded 197-amino-acid fragment of the 1,273-amino-acid S-protein protomer. The RBD is the primary SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing epitope and a critical target of any SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here, we show that this RBD conjugated to each of two carrier proteins elicited more potent neutralizing responses in immunized rodents than did a similarly conjugated proline-stabilized S-protein ectodomain. Nonetheless, the native RBD is expressed inefficiently, limiting its usefulness as a vaccine antigen. However, we show that an RBD engineered with four novel glycosylation sites (gRBD) is expressed markedly more efficiently and generates a more potent neutralizing responses as a DNA vaccine antigen than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein, especially when fused to multivalent carriers, such as a Helicobacter pylori ferritin 24-mer. Further, gRBD is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD when administered as a subunit protein vaccine. Our data suggest that multivalent gRBD antigens can reduce costs and doses, and improve the immunogenicity, of all major classes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.IMPORTANCE All available vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) express or deliver the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. We show that this antigen is not optimal, consistent with observations that the vast majority of the neutralizing response to the virus is focused on the S-protein receptor-binding domain (RBD). However, this RBD is not expressed well as an independent domain, especially when expressed as a fusion protein with a multivalent scaffold. We therefore engineered a more highly expressed form of the SARS-CoV-2 RBD by introducing four glycosylation sites into a face of the RBD normally occluded in the full S protein. We show that this engineered protein, gRBD, is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein in both genetic and protein-delivered vaccines.
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MESH Headings
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/genetics
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2/immunology
- Animals
- Binding Sites
- COVID-19 Vaccines/chemistry
- COVID-19 Vaccines/immunology
- Female
- Genetic Engineering
- Glycosylation
- HEK293 Cells
- Humans
- Immunogenicity, Vaccine
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred BALB C
- Models, Molecular
- Protein Domains
- Rats
- Rats, Sprague-Dawley
- Receptors, Coronavirus/genetics
- Receptors, Coronavirus/immunology
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics
- Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology
- Vaccines, Conjugate/genetics
- Vaccines, Conjugate/immunology
- Vaccines, Synthetic/chemistry
- Vaccines, Synthetic/immunology
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Guo
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Wenhui He
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Huihui Mou
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Lizhou Zhang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Jing Chang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Shoujiao Peng
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Amrita Ojha
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Rubens Tavora
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Mark S Parcells
- Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
| | - Guangxiang Luo
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
| | - Wenhui Li
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guocai Zhong
- Scripps Research SZBL Chemical Biology Institute, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hyeryun Choe
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Michael Farzan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
| | - Brian D Quinlan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, Florida, USA
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Quinlan BD, He W, Mou H, Zhang L, Guo Y, Chang J, Peng S, Ojha A, Tavora R, Parcells MS, Luo G, Li W, Zhong G, Choe H, Farzan M. An engineered receptor-binding domain improves the immunogenicity of multivalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2020:2020.11.18.388934. [PMID: 33236008 PMCID: PMC7685318 DOI: 10.1101/2020.11.18.388934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023]
Abstract
The SARS-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein mediates viral entry into cells expressing the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S protein engages ACE2 through its receptor-binding domain (RBD), an independently folded 197-amino acid fragment of the 1273-amino acid S-protein protomer. The RBD is the primary SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing epitope and a critical target of any SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Here we show that this RBD conjugated to each of two carrier proteins elicited more potent neutralizing responses in immunized rodents than did a similarly conjugated proline-stabilized S-protein ectodomain. Nonetheless, the native RBD expresses inefficiently, limiting its usefulness as a vaccine antigen. However, we show that an RBD engineered with four novel glycosylation sites (gRBD) expresses markedly more efficiently, and generates a more potent neutralizing responses as a DNA vaccine antigen, than the wild-type RBD or the full-length S protein, especially when fused to multivalent carriers such as an H. pylori ferritin 24-mer. Further, gRBD is more immunogenic than the wild-type RBD when administered as a subunit protein vaccine. Our data suggest that multivalent gRBD antigens can reduce costs and doses, and improve the immunogenicity, of all major classes of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian D. Quinlan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Wenhui He
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Huihui Mou
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Lizhou Zhang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Yan Guo
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Jing Chang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Shoujiao Peng
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Amrita Ojha
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Rubens Tavora
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Mark S. Parcells
- Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Guangxiang Luo
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham School Of Medicine, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA
| | - Wenhui Li
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Tsinghua Institute of Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guocai Zhong
- Scripps Research | SZBL Chemical Biology Institute, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory (SZBL), Shenzhen, China
- School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
| | - Hyeryun Choe
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
| | - Michael Farzan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
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Laczkó D, Hogan MJ, Toulmin SA, Hicks P, Lederer K, Gaudette BT, Castaño D, Amanat F, Muramatsu H, Oguin TH, Ojha A, Zhang L, Mu Z, Parks R, Manzoni TB, Roper B, Strohmeier S, Tombácz I, Arwood L, Nachbagauer R, Karikó K, Greenhouse J, Pessaint L, Porto M, Putman-Taylor T, Strasbaugh A, Campbell TA, Lin PJC, Tam YK, Sempowski GD, Farzan M, Choe H, Saunders KO, Haynes BF, Andersen H, Eisenlohr LC, Weissman D, Krammer F, Bates P, Allman D, Locci M, Pardi N. A Single Immunization with Nucleoside-Modified mRNA Vaccines Elicits Strong Cellular and Humoral Immune Responses against SARS-CoV-2 in Mice. Immunity 2020; 53:724-732.e7. [PMID: 32783919 PMCID: PMC7392193 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2020.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 230] [Impact Index Per Article: 57.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Revised: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 infection has emerged as a serious global pandemic. Because of the high transmissibility of the virus and the high rate of morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19, developing effective and safe vaccines is a top research priority. Here, we provide a detailed evaluation of the immunogenicity of lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated, nucleoside-modified mRNA (mRNA-LNP) vaccines encoding the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein or the spike receptor binding domain in mice. We demonstrate that a single dose of these vaccines induces strong type 1 CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, as well as long-lived plasma and memory B cell responses. Additionally, we detect robust and sustained neutralizing antibody responses and the antibodies elicited by nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccines do not show antibody-dependent enhancement of infection in vitro. Our findings suggest that the nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNP vaccine platform can induce robust immune responses and is a promising candidate to combat COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorottya Laczkó
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Michael J Hogan
- Division of Protective Immunity, Children's Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Sushila A Toulmin
- Division of Protective Immunity, Children's Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Philip Hicks
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Katlyn Lederer
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Brian T Gaudette
- The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Diana Castaño
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Grupo de Inmunología Celular e Inmunogenética, Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Fatima Amanat
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Hiromi Muramatsu
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Thomas H Oguin
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Amrita Ojha
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Lizhou Zhang
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Zekun Mu
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Robert Parks
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Tomaz B Manzoni
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Brianne Roper
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Shirin Strohmeier
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - István Tombácz
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Leslee Arwood
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Raffael Nachbagauer
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Katalin Karikó
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, Mainz, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ying K Tam
- Acuitas Therapeutics, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Gregory D Sempowski
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Michael Farzan
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Hyeryun Choe
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA
| | - Kevin O Saunders
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Barton F Haynes
- Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | | | - Laurence C Eisenlohr
- Division of Protective Immunity, Children's Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Drew Weissman
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Florian Krammer
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Paul Bates
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - David Allman
- The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Michela Locci
- Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Norbert Pardi
- Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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