A single intranasal dose of chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection in rhesus macaques

• DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100230
• Publication Date: 2021-03-20T12:45:10Z
• Authors: Ahmed O. Hassan; Friederike Feldmann; Haiyan Zhao; David T. Curiel; Atsushi Okumura; Tsing-Lee Tang-Huau; James Brett Case; Kimberly Meade-White; Julie Callison; Rita E. Chen; Jamie Lovaglio; Patrick W. Hanley; Dana P. Scott; Daved H. Fremont; Heinz Feldmann; Michael S. Diamond
• Keywords: Medicine (General); R5-920; 572; SARS-CoV-2; vaccine; Report; mucosal; non-human primates; immunogenicity; immunity; 3. Good health

The deployment of a vaccine that limits transmission and disease likely will be required to end the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We recently described the protective activity of an intranasally administered chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored vaccine encoding a pre-fusion stabilized spike (S) protein (ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S [chimpanzee adenovirus-severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2-S]) in the upper and lower respiratory tracts of mice expressing the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Here, we show the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of this vaccine in non-human primates. Rhesus macaques were immunized with ChAd-Control or ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S and challenged 1 month later by combined intranasal and intrabronchial routes with SARS-CoV-2. A single intranasal dose of ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S induces neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses and limits or prevents infection in the upper and lower respiratory tracts after SARS-CoV-2 challenge. As ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S confers protection in non-human primates, it is a promising candidate for limiting SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission in humans.