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

Weiwen Deng; Raymond W Sweeney

doi:10.1016/j.jvacx.2022.100230

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

Vaccine X. 2022 Dec:12:100230. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2022.100230. Epub 2022 Oct 19.

Authors

Weiwen Deng¹, Raymond W Sweeney²

Affiliations

¹ Behring Therapeutics, Inc., 50 Bridge Street, Shelton, CT, USA.
² Department of Clinical Studies-New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, 382, West Street Road, Kennett Square, PA, USA.

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Delta variant; Neutralizing antibodies; Omicron variant; Peptide vaccine; Tetanus vaccine.