Inducing Long Lasting B Cell and T Cell Immunity Against Multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2 Through Mutant Bacteriophage Qβ-Receptor Binding Domain Conjugate

Zibin Tan; Canchai Yang; Po-Han Lin; Sherif Ramadan; Weizhun Yang; Zahra Rashidi; Shuyao Lang; Fatemeh Shafieichaharberoud; Jia Gao; Xingling Pan; Nachy Soloff; Xuanjun Wu; Steven Bolin; Dohun Pyeon; Xuefei Huang

doi:10.1002/adhm.202302755

Inducing Long Lasting B Cell and T Cell Immunity Against Multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2 Through Mutant Bacteriophage Qβ-Receptor Binding Domain Conjugate

Adv Healthc Mater. 2024 May 11:e2302755. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202302755. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zibin Tan^{1

2}, Canchai Yang³, Po-Han Lin^{1

2}, Sherif Ramadan^{1

4}, Weizhun Yang¹, Zahra Rashidi^{1

2}, Shuyao Lang^{1

2

5}, Fatemeh Shafieichaharberoud^{1

2}, Jia Gao^{1

2}, Xingling Pan^{1

2}, Nachy Soloff⁶, Xuanjun Wu⁷, Steven Bolin⁸, Dohun Pyeon³, Xuefei Huang^{1

2

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
² Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Benha University, Benha, 13518, Egypt.
⁵ Center for Cancer Immunology, Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China.
⁶ Hatzalah of Michigan, 13650 Oak Park Blvd., Oak Park, MI, 48237, USA.
⁷ National Glycoengineering Research Center, Shandong Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Glycobiology, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 250100, China.
⁸ Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
⁹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.

PMID: 38733291
DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202302755

Abstract

More than 3 years into the global pandemic, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains a significant threat to public health. Immunities acquired from infection or current vaccines fail to provide long term protection against subsequent infections, mainly due to their fast-waning nature and the emergence of variants of concerns (VOCs) such as Omicron. To overcome these limitations, SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD)-based epitopes are investigated as conjugates with a powerful carrier, the mutant bacteriophage Qβ (mQβ). The epitope design is critical to eliciting potent antibody responses with the full length RBD being superior to peptide and glycopeptide antigens. The full length RBD conjugated with mQβ activates both humoral and cellular immune systems in vivo, inducing broad spectrum, persistent, and comprehensive immune responses effective against multiple VOCs including Delta and Omicron variants, rendering it a promising vaccine candidate.

Keywords: SARS‐CoV‐2; mutant Qβ; vaccine; virus‐like particle.

Abstract

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