Immunological strategies against spike protein: Neutralizing antibodies and vaccine development for COVID‐19 (2020)

Dear Editor, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by infection of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is currently a devastating threat to public health. Accumulating evidence supports that severe COVID-19 patients (peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) ≤ 94%) may develop acute respiratory distress syndrome. Understanding the dysregulated host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 may enable us develop therapeutics for COVID-19. Recent transcriptional analysis revealed that there was an imbalanced response with minimal levels of interferons and a remarkable increase of chemotactic and inflammatory response characterized by expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF, CXCL1 as shown in Figure 1.1 The excessive formation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and IL-1β, may result in a higher risk of vascular hyperpermeability and respiratory failure.1, 2 Recent research progress on mechanistic studies of SARS-CoV-2 and clinical trials of neutralizing antibodies and vaccine development is one giant leap. Here, we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies to develop effective vaccines. We also explore the viability and challenges in developing neutralizing antibodies for COVID-19. Antibodies that block the interaction between S protein and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) may effectively prevent the infection of SARS-CoV-2 as shown in Figure 2A. The neutralizing antibody CR3022 can bind with the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 as shown in Figure 2B.3 The monoclonal- neutralizing antibody CR3022 recognizes a highly conservative domain, which is distal from the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 S protein.4 However, it is intriguing to confirm it by performing in vitro competitive binding assays to demonstrate how efficient CR3022 is competing with the binding of SARS-CoV-2 S protein to ACE2 and preventing the infection of cells with SARS-CoV-2 challenge. Another human monoclonal antibody S309 identified from a convalescent SARS patient was found to be able to bind with the S protein of SARS-CoV-2.5 The structure of S protein in complex with S309 is shown in Figure 2C and 2D. These studies allow the development of potent-neutralizing antibodies through analysis of conformational change and chemical space restraints of the identified neutralizing antibody using molecular modeling pipelines.6 This opens the new field of using neutralizing antibody cocktails as a therapeutic approach for COVID-19. The cocktail treatment with different antibodies will enhance the capacity to prevent the infection of SARS-CoV-2 and may reduce the occurrence of neutralization-escape mutants. DNA vaccine, RNA vaccine, and vaccine with adenovirus encoding S proteins and inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are reported promisingly as shown in Table 1. INO-4800, a synthetic DNA encoding the S protein, led to robust production of the S protein and induced the production of immune IgG. This effectively abolished the binding of the S protein to the ACE2 of host cells.7 Similarly, another DNA vaccine candidate expressing various types of S protein was evaluated in rhesus macaques.8 Interestingly, this DNA vaccine effectively enhanced humoral and cellular immune responses and reduced the median viral loads in the respiratory system.8 In addition, Moderna developed the first RNA vaccine candidate mRNA-1273 reconstituted with lipid nanoparticles. mRNA-1273 exhibited full protection against viral infection in the lung of a murine model.9 The safety of mRNA-1273 was examined in the phase I clinical study. The adverse effects were temporary and self-resolving.9 These studies prove the safety profile of the nucleic acid vaccines, and the efficacy needs to be examined in the phase II/III clinical trial. INO-4800, DNA plasmid (S protein) vaccine from Inovio Pharmaceuticals. Phase I NCT04336410 Phase I/II NCT04447781 mRNA-1273, Spike protein, LNP encapsulated mRNA from Moderna/NIAID Adenovirus type 5 vector with the full-length S protein, not only HIV and SIV but also multiple DNA and single- and double-stranded RNA viruses Ad5-nCoV, CanSino Biological Inc./Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and the adenovirus-vectored vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca) Phase II ChiCTR2000031781 Phase III Covid-19 vaccine trial in Saudi Arabia (Ad5-nCoV) and Phase III NCT04516746 (ChAdOx1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0746-0. net/news_cepi/cepi-partners-with-university-of-hong-kongto-develop-covid-19-vaccine/ Recombinant S protein, Navovox, Inc. Spike protein nanoparticle vaccine with Matrix-M adjuvant PiCo vaccine, whole virus from Beijing Institute of Biological Products BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm/CNBG, China) Phase I ChiCTR2000031809 NCT04352608 The phase III trial (PiCo) is underway in Brazil, The phase III trial of BBIBP-CorV is underway in Abu Dhabi, UAE NVX-CoV2373 was synthesized by a combination of the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 with a proprietary Matrix-M adjuvant. The vaccines induced immune responses and elicited high levels of neutralizing antibodies in a preclinical study.10 The phase I clinical trial demonstrated its safety profile. These studies demonstrate the potential of using the RBD domain in the SARS-CoV-2 for vaccine development and provide the preclinical evidence for the future clinical trials.10 The advantage of this strategy is that there is no contagious virus to be handled, and adjuvants can enhance immunogenicity. This platform has already been used to successfully develop effective vaccines for influenza and human papillomavirus (HPV). The weakness is that the large-scale manufacturing capacity is limited, and the yield may not be sufficient for worldwide application. The phase I clinical trial of an Ad5-vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was recently completed in Wuhan, China.11 No serious adverse event was observed, and there was significantly increased levels of neutralizing antibodies after vaccination.11 This important study demonstrates that the Ad5 vaccine induced the humoral response against SARS-CoV-2, and its efficacy needs to be examined in the future clinical study. In addition, another adenovirus-vectored vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 was developed to express the antigen S protein of SARS-CoV-2. This vaccine induced strong humoral and T cell-involved immune response in rhesus macaques.12 More importantly, no pneumonia symptom was observed.12 The advantage of Ad5-vectored vaccine is its robust ability to activate the immune response before the virus is inactivated by the human immune system; this promotes the efficacy of vaccines to protect against infection. In addition, the production platform has solid resources of gene therapy with multiple serotypes, but the down side is that high doses will be needed to induce the protective immune response. In addition to the Ad5-vectored COVID-19 vaccine, an inactivated S protein of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (PiCoVacc) was found to induce specific neutralizing antibodies.13 This vaccine was able to partially protect against the SARS-CoV-2 challenge in macaques.13 More importantly, there was no observable antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) effect after immunization. Another inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate (BBIBP-CorV) was developed. A HB02 strain isolated from the COVID-19 bronchoalveolar lavage samples was passaged to obtain an adapted strain with efficient replication capacity for high productivity before inactivation of the viral strain with β-propionolactone. This strategy enables the elimination of viral infectivity and validates its stability. Importantly, this vaccine efficiently induced protective neutralizing antibodies in rhesus macaques.14 These results support the future assessment of its efficacy in human patients. These vaccine strategies have different strengths and limitations, but each offer some promise. Inactivated vaccine is very safe, can be freeze dried, and easily stored, and there is no risk of the virus mutating back into its disease-causing pathogen. Both viral vector vaccines and recombinant S protein nanoparticle vaccines have higher safety profiles and are more immunogenic, but nonreplicating viral vector vaccines may have lower efficacy because of the existing immune response to the vector. It is very challenging to develop an effective vaccine against COVID-19 because of the property of single-strand RNA. Although some of these vaccine candidates (inactivated vaccines and recombinant S protein vaccines) are produced on platforms that have been used for other virus vaccines, the efficacy and the duration of vaccine-induced immune responses need to be determined. Given the high failure percentages and cost of vaccine development, a systemic platform with a linear sequence of experimental studies, data analysis, and manufacturing process is recommended for vaccine candidates. It is required to have a new pandemic paradigm to develop an effective vaccine rapidly. The worldwide vaccine production, procurement, and distribution should be considered before completing the clinical trials. The project is supported in part by research grants from the China Medical Board (Grant number: 16–262), the University Alliance of the Silk Road (Grant number: 2020LMZX002), and Xi'an Jiaotong University Global Health Institute. The authors declare no conflict of interest. J.H and Y.W wrote this review. H.H created the figures, and C.W and D.W edited the review.