A trans-amplifying mRNA vaccine with consensus spike elicits broadly cross-neutralizing antibody response against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve and evade vaccine immunity necessitating vaccines that offer broad protection across variants. Conventional mRNA vaccines face cost and scalability challenges, prompting the exploration of alternative platforms like trans-amplifying (TA) mRNA that offer advantages in safety, manufacturability, and antigen dose optimization. Using consensus sequences of immunodominant antigens is a promising antigen design strategy for board cross-protection. Combining these two features, we designed and evaluated a TA mRNA vaccine encoding a consensus spike protein from SARS-CoV-2. Mice receiving the TA mRNA vaccine produced neutralizing antibody levels comparable to a conventional mRNA vaccine using 40 times less antigen mRNA. In hACE2 transgenic mice challenged with the Omicron BA.1 variant, the TA mRNA vaccine reduced lung viral titers by over 10-fold and induced broadly cross-neutralizing antibodies against multiple variants. These findings highlight the potential of TA mRNA vaccines with consensus antigen design, to improve efficacy and adaptability against SARS-CoV-2 variants.