TY - JOUR T1 - Interferon-armed RBD dimer enhances the immunogenicity of RBD for sterilizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.05.12.443228 SP - 2021.05.12.443228 AU - Shiyu Sun AU - Yueqi Cai AU - Tian-Zhang Song AU - Yang Pu AU - Lin Cheng AU - Hairong Xu AU - Chaoyang Meng AU - Yifan Lin AU - Jing Sun AU - Silin Zhang AU - Yu Gao AU - Jian-Bao Han AU - Xiao-Li Feng AU - Dan-Dan Yu AU - Yalan Zhu AU - Pu Gao AU - Haidong Tang AU - Jincun Zhao AU - Zheng Zhang AU - Jiaming Yang AU - Zenxiang Hu AU - Yang-Xin Fu AU - Yong-Tang Zheng AU - Hua Peng Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/05/12/2021.05.12.443228.abstract N2 - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global crisis, urgently necessitating the development of safe, efficacious, convenient-to-store, and low-cost vaccine options. A major challenge is that the receptor-binding domain (RBD)-only vaccine fails to trigger long-lasting protective immunity if used solely for vaccination. To enhance antigen processing and cross-presentation in draining lymph nodes (DLNs), we developed an interferon (IFN)-armed RBD dimerized by immunoglobulin fragment (I-R-F). I-R-F efficiently directs immunity against RBD to DLN. A low dose of I-R-F induces not only high titer long-lasting neutralizing antibodies but also comprehensive T cell responses than RBD, and even provides comprehensive protection in one dose without adjuvant. This study shows that the I-R-F vaccine provides rapid and complete protection throughout upper and lower respiratory tracts against high dose SARS-CoV-2 challenge in rhesus macaques. Due to its potency and safety, this engineered vaccine may become one of the next-generation vaccine candidates in the global race to defeat COVID-19.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -