Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Feb 20;48(2):107-114.
doi: 10.1016/j.jgg.2021.02.006. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines

Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines

Qingrui Huang et al. J Genet Genomics. .

Abstract

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented global societal and economic disruptive impact highlight the urgent need for safe and effective vaccines. Taking substantial advantages of versatility and rapid development, two mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 have completed late-stage clinical assessment at an unprecedented speed and reported positive results. In this review, we outline keynotes in mRNA vaccine development, discuss recently published data on COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidates, focusing on those in clinical trials and analyze future potential challenges.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representation of mRNA-lipid nanoparticle complex.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Antigens of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. A: Schematic representation of full-length SARS-CoV-2 S primary structure colored by domain. SP, signal peptide; NTD, N-terminal domain; RBD, receptor-binding domain; CTD, C-terminal domain; FP, fusion peptide; HR1, heptad repeat 1; CH, central helix; CD, connector domain; HR2, heptad repeat 2; TM, transmembrane domain; CT, cytoplasmic tail. B: The structure of SARS-CoV-2 wild-type S protein in prefusion state (PDB:6XR8). C: The structure of SARS-CoV-2 wild-type S protein in postfusion state (PDB:6XRA). D: The structure of SARS-CoV-2 S-2P (PDB:6VSB). E: The structure of SARS-CoV-2 RBD (PDB:6LZG).

References

    1. Alberer M., Gnad-Vogt U., Hong H.S., Mehr K.T., Backert L., Finak G., Gottardo R., Bica M.A., Garofano A., Koch S.D., et al. Safety and immunogenicity of a mRNA rabies vaccine in healthy adults: an open-label, non-randomised, prospective, first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial. Lancet. 2017;390:1511–1520. - PubMed
    1. Amanat F., Stadlbauer D., Strohmeier S., Nguyen T.H.O., Chromikova V., McMahon M., Jiang K., Arunkumar G.A., Jurczyszak D., Polanco J., et al. A serological assay to detect SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion in humans. Nat. Med. 2020;26:1033–1036. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anderson E.J., Rouphael N.G., Widge A.T., Jackson L.A., Roberts P.C., Makhene M., Chappell J.D., Denison M.R., Stevens L.J., Pruijssers A.J., et al. Safety and immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine in older adults. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;383:2427–2438. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baden L.R., El Sahly H.M., Essink B., Kotloff K., Frey S., Novak R., Diemert D., Spector S.A., Rouphael N., Creech C.B., et al. Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 2021;384:403–416. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baum A., Fulton B.O., Wloga E., Copin R., Pascal K.E., Russo V., Giordano S., Lanza K., Negron N., Ni M., Wei Y., et al. Antibody cocktail to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein prevents rapid mutational escape seen with individual antibodies. Science. 2020;369:1014–1018. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms