DNA-Vaccine-Induced Immune Response Correlates with Lower Viral SARS-CoV-2 Titers in a Ferret Model
oleh: Mirco Compagnone, Eleonora Pinto, Erika Salvatori, Lucia Lione, Antonella Conforti, Silvia Marchese, Micol Ravà, Kathryn Ryan, Yper Hall, Emma Rayner, Francisco J. Salguero, Jemma Paterson, Matteo Iannacone, Raffaele De Francesco, Luigi Aurisicchio, Fabio Palombo
| Format: | Article |
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| Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2022-07-01 |
Deskripsi
The COVID-19 pandemic is entering a new era with the approval of many SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In spite of the restoration of an almost normal way of life thanks to the immune protection elicited by these innovative vaccines, we are still facing high viral circulation, with a significant number of deaths. To further explore alternative vaccination platforms, we developed COVID-<i>e</i>Vax—a genetic vaccine based on plasmid DNA encoding the RBD domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Here, we describe the correlation between immune responses and the evolution of viral infection in ferrets infected with the live virus. We demonstrate COVID-<i>e</i>Vax immunogenicity as means of antibody response and, above all, a significant T-cell response, thus proving the critical role of T-cell immunity, in addition to the neutralizing antibody activity, in controlling viral spread.