Cited by 85SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchAnimal Virus Infections Studiesvaccines and immunoinformatics approaches

Protective activity of mRNA vaccines against ancestral and variant SARS-CoV-2 strains

Open access
Ying, Baoling, Whitener, Bradley, VanBlargan, Laura A., Hassan, Ahmed O., Shrihari, Swathi, Liang, Chieh-Yu, Karl, Courtney E., Mackin, Samantha +12 more·2022·Science Translational Medicine

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Although mRNA vaccines encoding the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) prevent COVID-19, the emergence of new viral variants jeopardizes their efficacy. Here, we assessed the immunogenicity and protective activity of historical (mRNA-1273, designed for Wuhan-1 spike protein) or modified (mRNA-1273.351, designed for B.1.351 spike protein) Moderna mRNA vaccines in 129S2 and K18-hACE2 mice. Mice were immunized with either high-dose or low-dose formulations of the mRNA vaccines, where low-dose vaccination modeled suboptimal immune responses. Immunization with formulations at either dose induced neutralizing antibodies in serum against ancestral SARS-CoV-2 WA1/2020 and several virus variants, although serum titers were lower against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) virus. Protection against weight loss and lung pathology was observed with all high-dose vaccines against all viruses. However, low-dose formulations of the vaccines, which produced lower magnitude antibody and T cell responses, showed breakthrough lung infections with B.1.617.2 and development of pneumonia in K18-hACE2 mice. Thus, in individuals with reduced immunity after mRNA vaccination, breakthrough infection and disease may occur with some SARS-CoV-2 variants.

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  • TRM cells are induced by high concentration mRNA vaccines.

    “While TRM cells are induced by high concentration mRNA vaccines31; we report that lower concentrations of unmodified mono- or bivalent mRNA vaccines induced lung parenchymal tissue resident T cells.”

    From Efficacy of an unmodified bivalent mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants in female small animal models (2023) · cites this paper as [31]

    The Results section on immunogenicity in K18-hACE2 mice reports CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses in the spleen after a 5 μg mRNA vaccine dose. The Methods section describes testing splenocytes, not tissue-resident memory (TRM) cells. Searches for TRM cells and lung-resident T cells found no passage establishing that high-dose vaccination induced them. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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  1. Ravetch J., Yamin R., Jones A., Hoffmann H.H., Kao K., Francis R., Sheahan T., Baric R., Rice C., and Bournazos S. (2021). Fc-engineered antibody therapeutics with improved efficacy against COVID-19. Research square. PMC9038156 34547765

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Authors
Ying, B., Whitener, B., VanBlargan, L. A., Hassan, A. O., Shrihari, S., Liang, C.-Y., Karl, C. E., Mackin, S., Chen, R. E., Kafai, N. M., Wilks, S. H., Smith, D. J., Carreño, J. M., Singh, G., Krammer, F., Carfi, A., Elbashir, S. M., Edwards, D. K., Thackray, L. B., & Diamond, M. S.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • Moderna Inc., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  • Moderna Therapeutics (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
  • Thackray, Larissa B.
  • Diamond, Michael S.
Venue
Science Translational Medicine
Published
2022-02-02
Volume
14
Issue
630
Pages
eabm3302-eabm3302
ISSN
  • 1946-6234 (ISSN-L)
  • 1946-6242
OpenAlex
W3216136559
Cited by
85
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 4
FWCI
9.17
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Science Translational Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Hope Center for Neurological Disorders (S10 RR0227552)
  • National Institutes of Health (S10-RR0227552, HHSN75N93019C00074, 75N93021C00014, 75N93019C00051, HHSN272201400008C)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (HHSN272201400008C), R01AI157155, #75N93021C00014, 75N93019C00074, AI007172, 75N93019C00051, AI157155, T32AI007172)
  • National Center for Research Resources (S10RR027552)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
Keywords
mRNA vaccines, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic, spike protein, B.1.351 variant, Delta variant, vaccine immunogenicity, neutralizing antibodies, breakthrough infection, low-dose vaccination, K18-hACE2 mice, lung pathology, pneumonia, Moderna mRNA-1273

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