An effective, safe and cost-effective cell-based chimeric vaccine against SARS-CoV2

Cheng, Zhenguo; Zhang, Danhua; Liu, XiaoWen; Miao, Jinxin; Wang, Jianyao; Guo, Haoran; Yan, Wenli; Zhang, Zhe; Zhang, Na; Wang, Jingjing; Lu, Shuangshuang; Zhang, Zhongxian; Liu, Wei; Liu, Hong; Zhang, Yi; Zhang, Lirong; Dong, Jianzeng; Lemoine, Nicholas R; Wang, Yaohe

More than one hundred vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have been developed and some of them have entered clinical trials, but the latest results revealed that these vaccines still face great challenges. Here, we developed a novel cell-based gp96-Ig-secreting chimeric vaccine which is composed of two viral antigens, the RBD of spike protein, and a truncated nucleocapsid protein that could induce epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes but low antibody response. Syrian hamsters immunized with the cell-based vaccine produced high level of SARS-CoV-2 specific NAbs and specific T cell immunity which could eliminate RBD-truncated N-expressing cells, without the induction of antibody against N protein and other observed toxicity. This study provides a proof of concept for clinical testing of this safe, effective and cost-effective vaccine against SARS-CoV2 infection.