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SARS-CoV-2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Protein-Protein Conjugate Induces Similar or Better Antibody Responses as Spike mRNA in Rhesus Macaques

  1. Author:
    Scaria, Puthupparampil V [ORCID]
    Rowe, Christopher G [ORCID]
    Kosik, Ivan
    Hu, Zhe
    Renn, Jonathan P
    Alani, Nada
    Kemanli, Pinar
    Orr-Gonzalez, Sachy
    Lambert, Lynn E
    Adeyemi, Kayode [ORCID]
    Doritchamou, Justin Y A [ORCID]
    Barnafo, Emma K
    Rausch, Kelly M [ORCID]
    Muslinkina, Liya [ORCID]
    Morrison, Robert D [ORCID]
    Todd, John-Paul
    Esposito,Dominic [ORCID]
    Lees, Andrew [ORCID]
    Yewdell, Jonathan
    Duffy, Patrick E [ORCID]

  2. Author Address

    Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 29 Lincoln Drive, Building 29B, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA., Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA., Structural Biology Section, Research Technologies Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA., Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA., Protein Expression Laboratory, Cancer Research Technology Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD 21701, USA., Fina BioSolutions LLC, 9430 Key West Ave. Suite 200, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.,
    1. Year: 2025
    2. Date: Jun 17
    3. Epub Date: 2025 06 17
  2. Journal: Vaccines
    1. 13
    2. 6
    3. Pages: 648
  4. Type of Article: Article
  5. Article Number: 648
  1. Abstract:

    Background/Objectives: Rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 was pivotal to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency also provided a rare opportunity to test novel vaccine platforms such as mRNA in large clinical trials. Most of the early vaccines used SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein as the target antigen. Nevertheless, subsequent studies have shown that Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of Spike also can yield efficacious vaccines, and we previously demonstrated that chemical conjugation of RBD to a carrier protein, EcoCRM 174;, enhanced antibody responses and induced strong virus neutralization activity in mice. Methods: Here, we compared the immunogenicity of this conjugate to that of an approved mRNA vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech in rhesus macaques over a period of nine months. Results: AS01-adjuvanted RBD conjugate induced a similar or better antibody response, receptor binding inhibition, and virus neutralization activity against different variants of SARS-CoV-2, compared to mRNA. IgG subclass profiles induced by conjugate and mRNA vaccines were initially dominated by IgG1 and IgG3 then switched to IgG2 and IgG4 dominant profiles during the subsequent six-month period. Polyclonal immune sera from the conjugate and mRNA had similar antibody avidity at multiple time points. Conclusions: In summary, antibody responses in rhesus macaques induced by the RBD-EcoCRM conjugate and the Spike mRNA vaccine are very similar. These results demonstrate the potential for the RBD-EcoCRM conjugate as a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

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External Sources

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  2. DOI: 10.3390/vaccines13060648
  3. PMID: 40573979
  4. PII : vaccines13060648

Library Notes

  1. Fiscal Year: FY2024-2025
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