Rapid Development and Initial Preclinical Evaluation of an Effective Candidate Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

The current pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a threat not only to global health but also to the economy since it is dramatically affecting the socio-economic layers of societies around the planet. Thus, it will be critically important to advance in the production of an effective vaccine, which will be crucial for building up sufficient population-based immunity to efficiently curb the pandemic. While SARS-CoV-2 can infect everyone at all ages, it is mainly the elderly population that is most at risk of a fatal outcome. Elderly persons are characterized by a declining immune function, known as immuno-aging. To address this specific challenge, vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 that specifically protect not only younger people but also the elderly are urgently needed. We propose a project for vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2 based on expression of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 antigenic variants in a novel trimeric form and combine the antigen delivery with the adjuvant activity of CpG oligodinucleotides. CpG adjuvant is known as an already FDA-approved vaccine adjuvant that confer strong immune responses in young and elderly persons. After 6 months, we will deliver an optimized lead antigen vaccine candidate that will already be pre-clinically evaluated for robust induction of virus-neutralizing immunity in mice.