A Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) Expressing a Membrane-Anchored Spike as a Cost-Effective Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

TL;DR

Researchers developed a low-cost, inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine using a modified Newcastle disease virus that protects against infection in animal models.

Contribution

A novel, cost-effective inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine using a Newcastle disease virus expressing a membrane-anchored spike is proposed.

Findings

The inactivated NDV-S vaccine induced strong binding and neutralizing antibodies in mice and hamsters.

The vaccine protected animals from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Antigen-sparing with an adjuvant maintained protective efficacy while reducing costs.

Abstract

A successful severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine must not only be safe and protective, but must also meet the demand on a global scale at a low cost. Using the current influenza virus vaccine production capacity to manufacture an egg-based inactivated Newcastle disease virus (NDV)/SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would meet that challenge. Here, we report pre-clinical evaluations of an inactivated NDV chimera stably expressing the membrane-anchored form of the spike (NDV-S) as a potent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine in mice and hamsters. The inactivated NDV-S vaccine was immunogenic, inducing strong binding and/or neutralizing antibodies in both animal models. More importantly, the inactivated NDV-S vaccine protected animals from SARS-CoV-2 infections. In the presence of an adjuvant, antigen-sparing could be achieved, which would further reduce the cost while maintaining the protective efficacy of the vaccine.

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