A Thermostable mRNA Vaccine against COVID-19
Authors: Xing-Yao Huang
Qi Chen
Xiao-Feng Li
Yi-Jiao Huang
Wei-Jin Huang
Na-Na Zhang
Xia-Lin Xue
Hua-Yuan Yan
Bo Ying
Jian-Hui Nie
Qi He
Yong-Qiang Deng
Hang Fan
Yuhang Jiang
Qing Ye
Rong-Rong Zhang
Cheng-Feng Qin
Hong-Ying Qiu
You-Chun Wang
Dongsheng Zhou
Peng Gao
Shu-Long Zu
Zhen-Yu Zha
Guan Yang
Shi-Hui Sun
Tian-Shu Cao
Xiao Yang
Xia Zhong
Chao Zhou
Hui Zhao
Yan Guo
Journal: Cell (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; lipid nanoparticle; mRNA vaccine; mouse-adapted strain
Affiliations: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China; School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China., State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China., State Key Laboratory of Proteomics, Beijing Proteome Research Center, National Center for Protein Sciences (Beijing), Beijing Institute of Lifeomics, Beijing 102206, China., Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-Transmitted Virus Vaccines, Institute for Biological Product Control, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC), Beijing 102629, China., Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd., Suzhou 215123, China., Division of HIV/AIDS and Sex-Transmitted Virus Vaccines, Institute for Biological Product Control, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC), Beijing 102629, China. Electronic address: ., Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co., Ltd., Suzhou 215123, China. Electronic address: ., State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  There is an urgent need for vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) because of the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Among all approaches, a messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccine has emerged as a rapid and versatile platform to quickly respond to this challenge. Here, we developed a lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated mRNA (mRNA-LNP) encoding the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 as a vaccine candidate (called ARCoV). Intramuscular immunization of ARCoV mRNA-LNP elicited robust neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 as well as a Th1-biased cellular response in mice and non-human primates. Two doses of ARCoV immunization in mice conferred complete protection against the challenge of a SARS-CoV-2 mouse-adapted strain. Additionally, ARCoV is manufactured as a liquid formulation and can be stored at room temperature for at least 1 week. ARCoV is currently being evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper belongs to a set of over 400 papers (as per February 2020) that share very similar Western blots with tadpole-like shaped bands, the same background pattern, and striking similarities in title structures, paper layout, bar graph design, and - in a subset - flow cytometry panels. Despite these similarities, these papers are authored by researchers from different departments and institutes, with almost no overlap in authors. The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing A more detailed description of this set of papers, suspected to all be generated by a common source, a paper mill , can be found here: * https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers (January 2020) * https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill (February 2020) The same paper mill has been described in these papers: * Jana Christopher - Systematic fabrication of scientific images revealed - FEBS Letters (2018) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13201 * Jennifer A Byrne and Jana Christopher - Digital magic, or the dark arts of the 21st centuryu2014how can journals and peer reviewers detect manuscripts and publications from paper mills? - FEBS Letters (2020) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13747 ,