Intramuscular Injection of a Mixture of COVID-19 Peptide Vaccine and Tetanus Vaccine in Horse Induced Neutralizing Antibodies against Authentic Virus of SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant
9 Pages Posted: 8 Jun 2022 Last revised: 10 Jun 2022
Date Written: May 31, 2022
Abstract Peptide vaccine is not effective due to its low immunogenicity. To improve the efficacy of peptide vaccine against COVID-19, a novel method was developed by mixing a COVID-19 peptide vaccine with a tetanus vaccine. In this study, intramuscular injection of a mixture of COVID-19 peptide vaccine and tetanus vaccine twice, i.e., first dose on day 0 and second dose on day 21, induced neutralizing antibodies against authentic virus of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in a horse. Horse serum of day 35, i.e., two weeks after the second dose, neutralized authentic virus of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, equal to half effectiveness of human serum from vaccinees of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. However, neither horse serum nor human serum neutralized Omicron variant authentic virus. No side effects were observed after each dose. This study indicates intramuscular injection of a mixture of COVID-19 peptide vaccine and tetanus vaccine may work in humans to improve peptide vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
Note:
Funding Information: This study was funded by Behring Therapeutics, Inc.
Conflict of Interests: A U.S. provisional patent application was filed by Weiwen Deng on May 24, 2022. Weiwen Deng has competing interest. Dr. Sweeney has no competing interest.
Ethical Approval: The protocol of this horse experiment was approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
Keywords: COVID-19, peptide vaccine, tetanus vaccine, neutralizing antibody, SARS-CoV-2, Delta variant, Omicron variant
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