Are Hamsters a Suitable Model for Evaluating the Immunogenicity of RBD-Based Anti-COVID-19 Subunit Vaccines?

Iuliia A Merkuleva; Dmitry N Shcherbakov; Mariya B Borgoyakova; Anastasiya A Isaeva; Valentina S Nesmeyanova; Natalia V Volkova; Vazirbek S Aripov; Daniil V Shanshin; Larisa I Karpenko; Svetlana V Belenkaya; Elena I Kazachinskaia; Ekaterina A Volosnikova; Tatiana I Esina; Alexandr A Sergeev; Kseniia A Titova; Yulia V Konyakhina; Anna V Zaykovskaya; Oleg V Pyankov; Evgeniia A Kolosova; Olesya E Viktorina; Arseniya A Shelemba; Andrey P Rudometov; Alexander A Ilyichev

doi:10.3390/v14051060

Are Hamsters a Suitable Model for Evaluating the Immunogenicity of RBD-Based Anti-COVID-19 Subunit Vaccines?

Viruses. 2022 May 16;14(5):1060. doi: 10.3390/v14051060.

Authors

Iuliia A Merkuleva¹, Dmitry N Shcherbakov¹, Mariya B Borgoyakova¹, Anastasiya A Isaeva¹, Valentina S Nesmeyanova¹, Natalia V Volkova¹, Vazirbek S Aripov¹, Daniil V Shanshin¹, Larisa I Karpenko¹, Svetlana V Belenkaya¹, Elena I Kazachinskaia¹, Ekaterina A Volosnikova¹, Tatiana I Esina¹, Alexandr A Sergeev¹, Kseniia A Titova¹, Yulia V Konyakhina¹, Anna V Zaykovskaya¹, Oleg V Pyankov¹, Evgeniia A Kolosova^{1

2}, Olesya E Viktorina², Arseniya A Shelemba³, Andrey P Rudometov¹, Alexander A Ilyichev¹

Affiliations

¹ State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Rospotrebnadzor, World-Class Genomic Research Center for Biological Safety and Technological Independence, Federal Scientific and Technical Program on the Development of Genetic Technologies, 630559 Koltsovo, Russia.
² Russian-American Anti-Cancer Center, Altai State University, 656049 Barnaul, Russia.
³ Federal Research Center of Fundamental and Translational Medicine, 630060 Novosibirsk, Russia.

Abstract

Currently, SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding-domain (RBD)-based vaccines are considered one of the most effective weapons against COVID-19. During the first step of assessing vaccine immunogenicity, a mouse model is often used. In this paper, we tested the use of five experimental animals (mice, hamsters, rabbits, ferrets, and chickens) for RBD immunogenicity assessments. The humoral immune response was evaluated by ELISA and virus-neutralization assays. The data obtained show hamsters to be the least suitable candidates for RBD immunogenicity testing and, hence, assessing the protective efficacy of RBD-based vaccines.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; animal models; receptor-binding domain.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
COVID-19 Vaccines* / immunology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Chickens
Cricetinae
Disease Models, Animal
Ferrets
Immunogenicity, Vaccine*
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Rabbits
SARS-CoV-2
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus* / immunology
Vaccines, Subunit / immunology

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
Vaccines, Subunit
spike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement # 075-15-2019-1665).