DNA-Vaccine-Induced Immune Response Correlates with Lower Viral SARS-CoV-2 Titers in a Ferret Model

Compagnone, M.; Pinto, E.; Salvatori, E.; Lione, L.; Conforti, A.; Marchese, S.; Rava, M.; Ryan, K.; Hall, Y.; Rayner, E.; Salguero, F. J.; Paterson, J.; Iannacone, M.; De Francesco, R.; Aurisicchio, L.; Palombo, F.

doi:10.3390/vaccines10081178

The COVID-19 pandemic is entering a new era with the approval of many SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In spite of the restoration of an almost normal way of life thanks to the immune protection elicited by these innovative vaccines, we are still facing high viral circulation, with a significant number of deaths. To further explore alternative vaccination platforms, we developed COVID-eVax—a genetic vaccine based on plasmid DNA encoding the RBD domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Here, we describe the correlation between immune responses and the evolution of viral infection in ferrets infected with the live virus. We demonstrate COVID-eVax immunogenicity as means of antibody response and, above all, a significant T-cell response, thus proving the critical role of T-cell immunity, in addition to the neutralizing antibody activity, in controlling viral spread.

DNA-Vaccine-Induced Immune Response Correlates with Lower Viral SARS-CoV-2 Titers in a Ferret Model / Compagnone, M., Pinto, E., Salvatori, E., Lione, L., Conforti, A., Marchese, S., Rava, M., Ryan, K., Hall, Y., Rayner, E., Salguero, F.J., Paterson, J., Iannacone, M., De Francesco, R., Aurisicchio, L., Palombo, F.. - In: VACCINES. - ISSN 2076-393X. - 10:8(2022). [10.3390/vaccines10081178]