α-Hemolysin-Aided Oligomerization of the Spike Protein RBD Resulted in Improved Immunogenicity and Neutralization Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants
Brief intro:
- Author: Jintao Zou, Haiming Jing, Xiaoli Zhang, Yiheng Liu, Zhuo Zhao, Lianli Duan, Yue Yuan, Zhifu Chen, Qiang Gou, Qingshan Xiong, Sisi Li, Feng Yang, Hao Zeng, Quanming Zou, and Jinyong Zhang
- Journal: Front Immunol
- Doi: https://www.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.757691
- Publication Date: 2021 Sep 24
Products/Services used in the paper
Quotation shows PackGene:All SARS-CoV-2 sipke pseudoviruses that use GFP as a reporter gene, including the wild type, alpha variant, beta variant, and gamma variant, were purchased from Packgene Company. The titers were measured by Packgene.
Research Field:Covid-related
Abstract
The increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for the development of safe and broad cross-protective vaccines. The RBD of the spike protein was considered to be a safe and effective candidate antigen. However, the low immunogenicity limited its application in vaccine development. Herein, we designed and obtained an RBD heptamer (mHla-RBD) based on a carrier protein-aided assembly strategy. The molecular weight of mHla-RBD is up to 450 kDa, approximately 10 times higher than that of the RBD monomer. When formulated with alum adjuvant, mHla-RBD immunization significantly increased the immunogenicity of RBD, as indicated by increased titers of RBD-specific antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, Th2 cellular immune response, and pseudovirus neutralization activity, when compared to RBD monomer. Furthermore, we confirmed that RBD-specific antibodies predominantly target conformational epitopes, which was approximately 200 times that targeting linear epitopes. Finally, a pseudovirus neutralization assay revealed that neutralizing antibodies induced by mHla-RBD against different SARS-CoV-2 variants were comparable to those against the wild-type virus and showed broad-spectrum neutralizing activity toward different SARS-CoV-2 variants. Our results demonstrated that mHla-RBD is a promising candidate antigen for development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the mHla could serve as a universal carrier protein for antigen design.
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