IMMUNOGENIC CORONAVIRUS FUSION PROTEINS AND RELATED METHODS
Researchers at Stanford have developed fusion proteins as a novel vaccine strategy for SARS-CoV2.
As the causative force of the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV2 caused massive sustained morbidity, mortality, and societal disruption worldwide. Though COVID-19 has largely transitioned from pandemic to endemic status, viral variants of SARS-CoV2 continue to emerge and enact devastating human health consequences on vulnerable populations. Development of effective therapeutics and vaccines with broad immunological efficacy across strains is essential to contain the spread of this deadly virus. While mRNA vaccines have proved to be integral in the containment of SARS-CoV2, significant supply chain issues associated temperature stability of the vaccines have emerged, making their use in low resource settings challenging.
Stage of Research
The inventors have identified and tested sequences of the ectodomain of the SARS-CoV2 Spike protein from several different strains of SARS-CoV2. These sequences are engineered to contain artificially modified glycosylation sites and are joined to a ferritin subunit polypeptide to create a fusion protein. The ferritin subunit polypeptide allows the fusion proteins to self-assemble into oligomers. Nucleic acid sequences encoding the Spike protein joined to ferritin subunit polypeptides can then be transduced into a mammalian cell in culture to produce large amounts of protein trimers. Subsequently, these are then used create nanoparticles with surface-exposed trimers. The nanoparticles can then be purified and administered with adjuvants to humans to elicit a robust immune response to the fusion proteins. Studies have demonstrated that these fusion proteins can produce robust antibody responses in vitro and in vivo, suggesting these fusion proteins elicit robust immunogenicity to several strains of SARS-CoV2.
Applications
- Prevention of SARS-CoV2 infection/COVID by eliciting broad immunity to several different strains of the virus
Advantages
- This vaccine can be stored at room temperature and could increase global access as compared to mRNA vaccines.
- Can use a combination of ectodomain sequences from different strains of SARS-CoV2 to elicit broad immunity.
Stage of Development
Research- in vivo
Publications
PCT/US2023/032660
Related Web Links
N/A
Keywords
COVID, COVID-19, coronavirus, infectious disease, vaccine
Technology Reference
CZ Biohub SF ref. no. CZB-262S
Stanford ref. no. S22-278
