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. 2021 Apr 1;9(4):324.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines9040324.

BNT162b2 Vaccine Encoding the SARS-CoV-2 P2 S Protects Transgenic hACE2 Mice against COVID-19

Affiliations

BNT162b2 Vaccine Encoding the SARS-CoV-2 P2 S Protects Transgenic hACE2 Mice against COVID-19

Rui-Ru Ji et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

BNT162b2 is a highly efficacious mRNA vaccine approved to prevent COVID-19. This brief report describes the immunogenicity and anti-viral protective effect of BNT162b2 in hACE2 transgenic mice. Prime-boost immunization with BNT162b2 elicited high titers in neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which correlated with viral clearance and alleviated lung lesions in these mice after viral challenge.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; challenge study; efficacy; immunogenicity; mRNA vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

A.H., Y.Y., and R.-R.J. are employees of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Industrial Development, Co. Ltd. (Shanghai, China); U.S. is a management board member and employees at BioNTech SE (Mainz, Germany); A.B.V. is an employee at BioNTech SE (Mainz, Germany); A.B.V. and U.S. are inventors on patents and patent applications related to RNA technology and COVID-19 vaccine and have securities from BioNTech SE; Fosun is co-developing BNT162b2 with BioNTech for the greater China market; C.Q., Y.Q., and H.Z. are employees of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Comparative Medicine Center, Peking Union Medical College, and received compensation from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceuticals to conduct the animal challenge work; no other relationships or activities have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antibody immune response after BNT162b2 immunization (a+b) and analysis of protection after viral challenge (ci). (a) Titration of anti-S1 IgG antibodies analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); (b) titers of 50% virus-neutralizing antibodies; (c) viral load in lung tissue and associated pairwise p values 5 days after challenge; (d) percentage (y axis) and number (data labels) of mice grouped by lung symptom and dose group. Lung symptom was scored as normal (green), mild lesion (orange), or moderate lesion (red), for alveolar septum (left) and tissue around blood vessels (right); (ei) representative Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained lung tissue slices used to identify histopathological changes. Scalebar is 250 μm, HE ×100. Classification criteria for alveolar septum: mild lesion—mild thickening of the alveolar septum; moderate lesion—obvious thickening of the alveolar septum, with the lesion range greater than ½. Classification criteria of inflammatory cells infiltration around blood vessels: mild lesion—lesion range less than 1/4 of the lung tissue section; moderate lesion—lesion range being 1/4 to 2/4 of the lung tissue section.

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