KP.2-based monovalent mRNA vaccines robustly boost antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

In response to the ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were recently updated to encode the spike protein of the KP.2 subvariant of the JN.1 sublineage. However, the immunogenicity of KP.2-based monovalent mRNA vaccines (KP.2 MV) has yet to be fully evaluated and reported, particularly against dominant and growing viral variants KP.3.1.1 and XEC, which bear some distinct mutations from KP.2. Here we report that KP.2 MV boosters elicit robust neutralizing antibody titers in a cohort of 16 healthy adult participants against all tested variants in pseudovirus neutralization assays. The highest post-boost geometric mean titers were against older variants D614G (17,293) and BA.5 (14,358), suggestive of immune imprinting, but the post-boost titers against currently dominant or growing viruses KP.3.1.1 (1,698) and XEC (1,721) were still robust. Fold-changes in titers were highest against recent JN.1 subvariants, including JN.1, KP.2, KP.3, KP.3.1.1, and XEC, (5.8-to-7.8-fold), compared to older variants D614G and BA.5 (1.6- and 2.5-fold), which suggests that KP.2 MV boosters have at least partially mitigated immune imprinting. Overall, these results show that KP.2 MV boosters elicit robust neutralizing antibodies against dominant SARS-CoV-2 viruses.