Abstract
Targeted bacteriophage (phage) particles are potentially attractive yet inexpensive platforms for immunization. Herein, we describe targeted phage capsid display of an immunogenically relevant epitope of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein that is empirically conserved, likely due to the high mutational cost among all variants identified to date. This observation may herald an approach to developing vaccine candidates for broad-spectrum, towards universal, protection against multiple emergent variants of coronavirus that cause COVID-19.
Competing Interest Statement
D.I.S., R.P., and W.A. are listed as inventors on a patent application related to this technology (International Patent Application no. PCT/US2020/053758, entitled Targeted Pulmonary Delivery Compositions and Methods Using Same). Provisional patent application nos. 63/048, 279, and 63/161,136, entitled Enhancing Immune Responses Through Targeted Antigen Expression, have also been filed on the technology and intellectual property reported here. PhageNova Bio has licensed these intellectual properties and C.M., D.I.S., F.H.F.T., T.L.S., S.K.L., R.P., and W.A. may be entitled to standard royalties. S.K.L., R.P., and W.A. are founders and equity stockholders of PhageNova Bio. S.K.L. is a Board Member and R.P. is Chief Scientific Officer and a paid consultant of PhageNova Bio. R.P. and W.A. are founders and equity shareholders of MBrace Therapeutics; R.P. serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and W.A. is a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at MBrace Therapeutics. These arrangements are managed in accordance with the established institutional conflict-of-interest policies of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Footnotes
↵19 These authors jointly supervised this work.