PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Liang, Joshua G.
AU  - Su, Danmei
AU  - Song, Tian-Zhang
AU  - Zeng, Yilan
AU  - Huang, Weijin
AU  - Wu, Jinhua
AU  - Xu, Rong
AU  - Luo, Peiwen
AU  - Yang, Xiaofang
AU  - Zhang, Xiaodong
AU  - Luo, Shuangru
AU  - Liang, Ying
AU  - Li, Xinglin
AU  - Huang, Jiaju
AU  - Wang, Qiang
AU  - Huang, Xueqin
AU  - Xu, Qingsong
AU  - Luo, Mei
AU  - Huang, Anliang
AU  - Luo, Dongxia
AU  - Zhao, Chenyan
AU  - Yang, Fan
AU  - Han, Jian-Bao
AU  - Zheng, Yong-Tang
AU  - Liang, Peng
TI  - S-Trimer, a COVID-19 subunit vaccine candidate, induces protective immunity in nonhuman primates
AID  - 10.1101/2020.09.24.311027
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.09.24.311027
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/24/2020.09.24.311027.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/24/2020.09.24.311027.full
AB  - SARS-CoV-2 is the underlying cause for the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most enveloped RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 uses a homotrimeric surface antigen to gain entry into host cells. Here we describe S-Trimer, a native-like trimeric subunit vaccine candidate for COVID-19 based on Trimer-Tag technology. Immunization of S-Trimer with either AS03 (oil-in-water emulsion) or CpG 1018 (TLR9 agonist) plus alum adjuvants induced high-levels of neutralizing antibodies and Th1-biased cellular immune responses in animal models. Moreover, rhesus macaques immunized with adjuvanted S-Trimer were protected from SARS-CoV-2 challenge compared to vehicle controls, based on clinical observations and reduction of viral loads in lungs. Trimer-Tag may be an important new platform technology for scalable production and rapid development of safe and effective subunit vaccines against current and future emerging RNA viruses.Competing Interest StatementJ.G.L. and P.L. have ownership interest in Clover Biopharmaceuticals. All other authors have no competing interests.