A third vaccination with a single T cell epitope confers protection in a murine model of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Understanding the mechanisms and impact of booster vaccinations are essential in the design and delivery of vaccination programs. Here we show that a three dose regimen of a synthetic peptide vaccine elicits an accruing CD8 T cell response against one SARS-CoV-2 Spike epitope. We see protection against lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection in the K18-hACE2 transgenic mouse model in the absence of neutralizing antibodies, but two dose approaches are insufficient to confer protection.

Dominant Antiviral CD8 T Cell Responses Empower Prophylactic Antibody-Eliciting Vaccines Against Cytomegalovirus.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an ubiquitous herpesvirus that can cause serious morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised or immune-immature individuals. A vaccine that induces immunity to CMV in these target populations is therefore highly needed. Previous attempts to generate efficacious CMV vaccines primarily focused on the induction of humoral immunity by eliciting neutralizing antibodies.