Ad26 vaccine protects against SARS-CoV-2 severe clinical disease in hamsters

• Main Authors: Tostanoski, Lisa H. (Author), Wegmann, Frank (Author), Martinot, Amanda J. (Author), Loos, Carolin (Author), McMahan, Katherine (Author), Mercado, Noe B. (Author), Yu, Jingyou (Author), Chan, Chi N. (Author), Bondoc, Stephen (Author), Starke, Carly E. (Author), Nekorchuk, Michael (Author), Busman-Sahay, Kathleen (Author), Piedra-Mora, Cesar (Author), Wrijil, Linda M. (Author), Ducat, Sarah (Author), Custers, Jerome (Author), Atyeo, Caroline (Author), Fischinger, Stephanie (Author), Burke, John S. (Author), Feldman, Jared (Author), Hauser, Blake M. (Author), Caradonna, Timothy M. (Author), Bondzie, Esther A. (Author), Dagotto, Gabriel (Author), Gebre, Makda S. (Author), Jacob-Dolan, Catherine (Author), Lin, Zijin (Author), Mahrokhian, Shant H. (Author), Nampanya, Felix (Author), Nityanandam, Ramya (Author), Pessaint, Laurent (Author), Porto, Maciel (Author), Ali, Vaneesha (Author), Benetiene, Dalia (Author), Tevi, Komlan (Author), Andersen, Hanne (Author), Lewis, Mark G. (Author), Schmidt, Aaron G. (Author), Lauffenburger, Douglas A (Author), Alter, Galit (Author), Estes, Jacob D. (Author), Schuitemaker, Hanneke (Author), Zahn, Roland (Author), Barouch, Dan H. (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020-09-08T21:07:15Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans is often a clinically mild illness, but some individuals develop severe pneumonia, respiratory failure and death. Studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in hamsters and nonhuman primates have generally reported mild clinical disease, and preclinical SARS-CoV-2 vaccine studies have demonstrated reduction of viral replication in the upper and lower respiratory tracts in nonhuman primates. Here we show that high-dose intranasal SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters results in severe clinical disease, including high levels of virus replication in tissues, extensive pneumonia, weight loss and mortality in a subset of animals. A single immunization with an adenovirus serotype 26 vector-based vaccine expressing a stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein elicited binding and neutralizing antibody responses and protected against SARS-CoV-2-induced weight loss, pneumonia and mortality. These data demonstrate vaccine protection against SARS-CoV-2 clinical disease. This model should prove useful for preclinical studies of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, therapeutics and pathogenesis.