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Rice A, Verma M, Voigt E, Battisti P, Beaver S, Reed S, Dinkins K, Mody S, Zakin L, Tanaka S, Morimoto B, Olson CA, Gabitzsch E, Safrit JT, Spilman P, Casper C, Soon-Shiong P. Heterologous saRNA Prime, DNA Dual-Antigen Boost SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Elicits Robust Cellular Immunogenicity and Cross-Variant Neutralizing Antibodies. Front Immunol 2022; 13:910136. [PMID: 35911728 PMCID: PMC9335885 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.910136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We assessed if immune responses are enhanced in CD-1 mice by heterologous vaccination with two different nucleic acid-based COVID-19 vaccines: a next-generation human adenovirus serotype 5 (hAd5)-vectored dual-antigen spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) vaccine (AdS+N) and a self-amplifying and -adjuvanted S RNA vaccine (AAHI-SC2) delivered by a nanostructured lipid carrier. The AdS+N vaccine encodes S modified with a fusion motif to increase cell-surface expression and an N antigen modified with an Enhanced T-cell Stimulation Domain (N-ETSD) to direct N to the endosomal/lysosomal compartment and increase MHC class I and II stimulation potential. The S sequence in the AAHI-SC2 vaccine comprises the D614G mutation, two prolines to stabilize S in the prefusion conformation, and 3 glutamines in the furin cleavage region to confer protease resistance. CD-1 mice received vaccination by homologous and heterologous prime > boost combinations. Humoral responses to S were the highest with any regimen that included the AAHI-SC2 vaccine, and IgG bound to wild type and Delta (B.1.617.2) variant S1 at similar levels. An AAHI-SC2 prime followed by an AdS+N boost particularly enhanced CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses to both wild type and Delta S peptides relative to all other vaccine regimens. Sera from mice receiving AAHI-SC2 homologous or heterologous vaccination were found to be highly neutralizing for all pseudovirus strains tested: Wuhan, Beta, Delta, and Omicron strains. The findings here, taken in consideration with the availability of both vaccines in thermostable formulations, support the testing of heterologous vaccination by an AAHI-SC2 > AdS+N regimen in animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection to assess its potential to provide increased protection against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants particularly in regions of the world where the need for cold-chain storage has limited the distribution of other vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Rice
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Mohit Verma
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Emily Voigt
- Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Peter Battisti
- Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Sam Beaver
- Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Sierra Reed
- Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Kyle Dinkins
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Shivani Mody
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Lise Zakin
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Shiho Tanaka
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Corey Casper
- Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI), Seattle, WA, United States
- Departments of Medicine and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Patrick Soon-Shiong
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: Patrick Soon-Shiong,
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Gabitzsch E, Safrit JT, Verma M, Rice A, Sieling P, Zakin L, Shin A, Morimoto B, Adisetiyo H, Wong R, Bezawada A, Dinkins K, Balint J, Peykov V, Garban H, Liu P, Bacon A, Bone P, Drew J, Sanford DC, Spilman P, Sender L, Rabizadeh S, Niazi K, Soon-Shiong P. Dual-Antigen COVID-19 Vaccine Subcutaneous Prime Delivery With Oral Boosts Protects NHP Against SARS-CoV-2 Challenge. Front Immunol 2021; 12:729837. [PMID: 34603305 PMCID: PMC8481919 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.729837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
We have developed a dual-antigen COVID-19 vaccine incorporating genes for a modified SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S-Fusion) and the viral nucleocapsid (N) protein with an Enhanced T-cell Stimulation Domain (N-ETSD) to increase the potential for MHC class II responses. The vaccine antigens are delivered by a human adenovirus serotype 5 platform, hAd5 [E1-, E2b-, E3-], previously demonstrated to be effective in the presence of Ad immunity. Vaccination of rhesus macaques with the hAd5 S-Fusion + N-ETSD vaccine by subcutaneous prime injection followed by two oral boosts elicited neutralizing anti-S IgG and T helper cell 1-biased T-cell responses to both S and N that protected the upper and lower respiratory tracts from high titer (1 x 106 TCID50) SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Notably, viral replication was inhibited within 24 hours of challenge in both lung and nasal passages, becoming undetectable within 7 days post-challenge.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mohit Verma
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Adrian Rice
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | - Lise Zakin
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | - Annie Shin
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | | | - Raymond Wong
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | - Kyle Dinkins
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | | | | | - Philip Liu
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
| | | | - Pete Bone
- IosBio, Burgess Hill, United Kingdom
| | - Jeff Drew
- IosBio, Burgess Hill, United Kingdom
| | | | | | | | | | - Kayvan Niazi
- ImmunityBio, Inc., Culver City, CA, United States
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Rice A, Verma M, Shin A, Zakin L, Sieling P, Tanaka S, Balint J, Dinkins K, Adisetiyo H, Morimoto B, Higashide W, Anders Olson C, Mody S, Spilman P, Gabitzsch E, Safrit JT, Rabizadeh S, Niazi K, Soon-Shiong P. Intranasal plus subcutaneous prime vaccination with a dual antigen COVID-19 vaccine elicits T-cell and antibody responses in mice. Sci Rep 2021; 11:14917. [PMID: 34290317 PMCID: PMC8295250 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94364-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
We have developed a COVID-19 vaccine, hAd5 S-Fusion + N-ETSD, that expresses SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins with modifications to increase immune responses delivered using a human adenovirus serotype 5 (hAd5) platform. Here, we demonstrate subcutaneous (SC) prime and SC boost vaccination of CD-1 mice with this dual-antigen vaccine elicits T-helper cell 1 (Th1) biased T-cell and humoral responses to both S and N that are greater than those seen with hAd5 S wild type delivering only unmodified S. We then compared SC to intranasal (IN) prime vaccination with SC or IN boosts and show that an IN prime with an IN boost is as effective at generating Th1 biased humoral responses as the other combinations tested, but an SC prime with an IN or SC boost elicits greater T cell responses. Finally, we used a combined SC plus IN (SC + IN) prime with or without a boost and found the SC + IN prime alone to be as effective in generating humoral and T-cell responses as the SC + IN prime with a boost. The finding that SC + IN prime-only delivery has the potential to provide broad immunity-including mucosal immunity-against SARS-CoV-2 supports further testing of this vaccine and delivery approach in animal models of viral challenge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Rice
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Mohit Verma
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Annie Shin
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Lise Zakin
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Peter Sieling
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Shiho Tanaka
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Joseph Balint
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Kyle Dinkins
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Helty Adisetiyo
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Brett Morimoto
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Wendy Higashide
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - C Anders Olson
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Shivani Mody
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | - Patricia Spilman
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | | | - Jeffrey T Safrit
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
| | | | - Kayvan Niazi
- ImmunityBio, Inc., 9920 Jefferson Blvd, Culver City, CA, 90232, USA
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