An RNA-Scaffold Protein Subunit Vaccine for Nasal Immunization.

Developing recombinant proteins as nasal vaccines for inducing systemic and mucosal immunity against respiratory viruses is promising. However, additional adjuvants are required to overcome the low immunogenicity of protein antigens. Here, a self-adjuvanted protein-RNA ribonucleoprotein vaccine was developed and found to be an effective nasal vaccine in mice and the SARS-CoV-2 infection model.

An interferon-integrated mucosal vaccine provides pan-sarbecovirus protection in small animal models.

A pan-sarbecovirus or pan-betacoronavirus vaccine that can prevent current and potential future beta-coronavirus infections is important for fighting possible future pandemics. Here, we report a mucosal vaccine that cross-protects small animal models from sarbecoviruses including SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. The vaccine comprises a live-but-defective SARS-CoV-2 virus that is envelope deficient and has the orf8 segment replaced by interferon-beta, hence named Interferon Beta Integrated SARS-CoV-2 (IBIS) vaccine.

A nasal omicron vaccine booster elicits potent neutralizing antibody response against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

SARS-CoV-2 has caused the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020. As of January 2022, the worldwide spreading of SARS-CoV-2 leads to approximately 0.35 billion of human infections and five millions of deaths.