Circular RNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants.

ABSTRACT: As the emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to drive the worldwide pandemic, there is a constant demand for vaccines that offer more effective and broad-spectrum protection. Here, we report a circular RNA (circRNA) vaccine that elicited potent neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses by expressing the trimeric RBD of the spike protein, providing robust protection against SARS-CoV-2 in both mice and rhesus macaques. Notably, the circRNA vaccine enabled higher and more durable antigen production than the 1mΨ-modified mRNA vaccine and elicited a higher proportion of neutralizing antibodies and distinct Th1-skewed immune responses. Importantly, we found that the circRNA^RBD-Omicron vaccine induced effective neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron but not the Delta variant

SUBMITTER: Qu L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8971115 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature