Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of BBV152, whole virion inactivated SARS- CoV-2 vaccine candidates in the Syrian hamster model

Sreelekshmy Mohandas; Pragya D Yadav; Anita Shete-Aich; Priya Abraham; Krishna Mohan Vadrevu; Gajanan Sapkal; Chandrashekhar Mote; Dimpal Nyayanit; Nivedita Gupta; Vellimedu Kannappa Srinivas; Manoj Kadam; Abhimanyu Kumar; Triparna Majumdar; Rajlaxmi Jain; Gururaj Deshpande; Savita Patil; Prasad Sarkale; Deepak Patil; Raches Ella; Sai D Prasad; Sharda Sharma; Krishna M Ella; Samiran Panda; Balram Bhargava

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102054

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of BBV152, whole virion inactivated SARS- CoV-2 vaccine candidates in the Syrian hamster model

iScience. 2021 Feb 19;24(2):102054. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102054. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

Authors

Sreelekshmy Mohandas¹, Pragya D Yadav¹, Anita Shete-Aich¹, Priya Abraham¹, Krishna Mohan Vadrevu², Gajanan Sapkal¹, Chandrashekhar Mote³, Dimpal Nyayanit¹, Nivedita Gupta⁴, Vellimedu Kannappa Srinivas², Manoj Kadam¹, Abhimanyu Kumar¹, Triparna Majumdar¹, Rajlaxmi Jain¹, Gururaj Deshpande¹, Savita Patil¹, Prasad Sarkale¹, Deepak Patil¹, Raches Ella², Sai D Prasad², Sharda Sharma¹, Krishna M Ella², Samiran Panda⁴, Balram Bhargava⁴

Affiliations

¹ Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, Sus Road, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411021, India.
² Bharat Biotech International Limited, Genome Valley, Hyderabad, Telangana 500 078, India.
³ Department of Veterinary Pathology, Krantisinh Nana Patil College of Veterinary Science, Shirwal, Maharashtra 412801, India.
⁴ Indian Council of Medical Research,V. Ramalingaswami Bhawan, P.O. Box No. 4911, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.

Abstract

The availability of a safe and effective vaccine would be the eventual measure to deal with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) threat. Here, we have assessed the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates BBV152A, BBV152B, and BBV152C in Syrian hamsters. Three dose vaccination regimes with vaccine candidates induced significant titers of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies. BBV152A and BBV152B vaccine candidates remarkably generated a quick and robust immune response. Post-SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccinated hamsters did not show any histopathological changes in the lungs. The protection of the hamster was evident by the rapid clearance of the virus from lower respiratory tract, reduced virus load in upper respiratory tract, absence of lung pathology, and robust humoral immune response. These findings confirm the immunogenic potential of the vaccine candidates and further protection of hamsters challenged with SARS-CoV-2. Of the three candidates, BBV152A showed the better response.

Keywords: Biological Sciences; Immunity; Immunology; Viral Microbiology; Virology.