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. 2021 Apr 28;7(4):512-533.
doi: 10.1021/acscentsci.1c00120. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

A Comprehensive Review of the Global Efforts on COVID-19 Vaccine Development

Yingzhu Li  1 , Rumiana Tenchov  1 , Jeffrey Smoot  1 , Cynthia Liu  1 , Steven Watkins  1 , Qiongqiong Zhou  1
Affiliations

A Comprehensive Review of the Global Efforts on COVID-19 Vaccine Development

Yingzhu Li et al. ACS Cent Sci. .

Abstract

This report examines various vaccine platforms including inactivated vaccines, protein-based vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and nucleic acid (DNA or mRNA) vaccines, and their ways of producing immunogens in cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top 21 countries by number of COVID-19 candidate vaccines in the development pipelines.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine candidates among different vaccine platforms and their development stages.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in clinical trials among top seven countries regarding the trial stages and vaccine platforms.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Vaccine platforms and their ways of producing immunogen in cells. (A) Inactivated vaccine results in a broader spectrum of antigens when it is taken up and broken down by cells. (B) Protein-based vaccine produces a more focused response to a targeted antigen when it is taken up and processed into multiple epitopes by cells. (C) Viral vector vaccine delivers antigen-encoding DNA to cells and enhances the inflammatory response and immunity. (D) Nucleic acid vaccine enters cells and serves as the transcriptional/translational template for protein antigen synthesis.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic illustration of an mRNA molecule with the structural elements.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Chemical structures of uridine, pseudouridine, and N1-methyl-pseudouridine.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Suggested structures of lipid nanoparticle vaccine carriers: mRNA organized in inverse lipid micelles inside the nanoparticle− (A); mRNA intercalated between the lipid bilayers (B).
Figure 8
Figure 8
COVID-19 vaccine-related journal article publications classified according to country (A) and organization (B); values are presented as number per thousand (‰). The increase in color intensity reflects the increase in the number of publications.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine-related journal publications in different research areas.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Distribution of COVID-19-related journal publications among vaccine platforms.
Figure 11
Figure 11
COVID-19 cross-protection by other vaccines. Numbers of documents are next to the vaccine names. In the inset pie-charts for BCG, influenza, and MMR, “Yes” indicates documents suggesting cross-protection, “No” indicates documents suggesting there is no cross-protection; “?” indicates documents which are inconclusive. “Other vaccines” include encephalitis, hepatitis, Newcastle disease, rotavirus, polio, and other routine childhood vaccines.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Structure of the chemically modified cyclic dinucleotide adjuvant from patent application CN111956797A. Guanine nucleobase is shown in the boxes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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