| First Author | Montgomerie I | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | iScience | Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 106256 |
| PubMed ID | 36845030 | Mgi Jnum | J:335998 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:7447984 | Doi | 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106256 |
| Citation | Montgomerie I, et al. (2023) Incorporation of SARS-CoV-2 spike NTD to RBD protein vaccine improves immunity against viral variants. iScience 26(4):106256 |
| abstractText | Emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants pose a threat to human health worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD)-based vaccines are suitable candidates for booster vaccines, eliciting a focused antibody response enriched for virus neutralizing activity. Although RBD proteins are manufactured easily, and have excellent stability and safety properties, they are poorly immunogenic compared to the full-length spike protein. We have overcome this limitation by engineering a subunit vaccine composed of an RBD tandem dimer fused to the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the spike protein. We found that inclusion of the NTD (1) improved the magnitude and breadth of the T cell and anti-RBD response, and (2) enhanced T follicular helper cell and memory B cell generation, antibody potency, and cross-reactive neutralization activity against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants, including B.1.1.529 (Omicron BA.1). In summary, our uniquely engineered RBD-NTD-subunit protein vaccine provides a promising booster vaccination strategy capable of protecting against known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. |
