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. 2022 Feb 14;10(2):291.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines10020291.

Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Variants by rVSV-ΔG-Spike-Elicited Human Sera

Yfat Yahalom-Ronen  1 , Noam Erez  1 , Morly Fisher  1 , Hadas Tamir  1 , Boaz Politi  1 , Hagit Achdout  1 , Sharon Melamed  1 , Itai Glinert  1 , Shay Weiss  1 , Inbar Cohen-Gihon  2 , Ofir Israeli  2 , Marina Izak  3 , Michal Mandelboim  4 , Yoseph Caraco  5 , Noa Madar-Balakirski  6 , Adva Mechaly  1 , Eilat Shinar  3 , Ran Zichel  7 , Daniel Cohen  8 , Adi Beth-Din  2 , Anat Zvi  2 , Hadar Marcus  7 , Tomer Israely  1 , Nir Paran  1
Affiliations

Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 Variants by rVSV-ΔG-Spike-Elicited Human Sera

Yfat Yahalom-Ronen et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

The emergence of rapidly spreading variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a major challenge to the ability of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies to provide immunity. These variants contain mutations of specific amino acids that might impede vaccine efficacy. BriLife® (rVSV-ΔG-spike) is a newly developed SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate currently in phase II clinical trials. It is based on a replication-competent vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) platform. The rVSV-ΔG-spike contains several spontaneously acquired spike mutations that correspond to SARS-CoV-2 variants' mutations. We show that human sera from BriLife® vaccinees preserve comparable neutralization titers towards alpha, gamma, and delta variants and show less than a three-fold reduction in the neutralization capacity of beta and omicron compared to the original virus. Taken together, we show that human sera from BriLife® vaccinees overall maintain a neutralizing antibody response against all tested variants. We suggest that BriLife®-acquired mutations may prove advantageous against future SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.

Keywords: BriLife®; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; VOC; VSV; convalescent; neutralization; vaccine; variants.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Neutralization of alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron variants by sera from BriLife®-vaccinated human participants: (a) Schematic drawing showing spike mutations in BriLife® and in SARS-CoV-2 variants. Main spike domains are indicated. Additional mutations in omicron VOC are listed in rectangles below omicron’s scheme. Neutralization titers (NT50) of BriLife® participants’ sera (following boost vaccination) against the SARS-CoV-2 original virus, compared to (b) alpha (n = 9), (c) beta (n = 9), (d) gamma (n = 9), (e) delta (n = 13), and (f) omicron (n = 13) variants. Set 1 was tested against the original virus and alpha, beta, and gamma variants. Set 2 was tested against the original virus and delta and omicron VOCs. Each serum is color-coded for all tested viruses separately for Set 1 (b–d) and Set 2 (e–f). LOD: limit of detection (LOD = 20). Samples below the LOD were assigned a value of 10 (half of the LOD). Significance was determined by unpaired t-test. p values: 0.4088, 0.0498, 0.2528, 0.5936, and 0.0018 for comparison of the original virus to alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and omicron, respectively. (g) NT50 against rVSV-WT in serum samples of 10 vaccinees collected at time zero (T0), 28 days post-first vaccination (P), and two weeks following second vaccination (P + B). Serum samples are color coded. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA nonparametric test with Kruskal–Wallis test. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. n.s. = non-significant; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.
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