Boosting with Omicron-specific mRNA vaccine or historical SARS-CoV-2 vaccines elicits discriminating immune responses against Omicron variants.
10.1016/j.apsb.2024.12.030
- Author:
Yi WU
1
;
Xiaoying JIA
2
;
Namei WU
1
;
Xinghai ZHANG
2
;
Yan WU
2
;
Yang LIU
2
;
Minmin ZHOU
2
;
Yanqiong SHEN
3
;
Entao LI
1
;
Wei WANG
2
;
Jiaming LAN
4
;
Yucai WANG
1
;
Sandra CHIU
1
Author Information
1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230031, China.
2. State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430062, China.
3. RNAlfa Biotech, Hefei 230088, China.
4. Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Booster vaccination;
Commercial vaccines;
Immune response;
Omicron;
Omicron-specific mRNA vaccine;
SARS-CoV-2;
Subvariants
- From:
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
2025;15(2):947-962
- CountryChina
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Booster vaccinations are highly recommended in combating the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and its subvariants. However, the optimal booster vaccination strategies and related immune mechanisms with different prior vaccinations are under-revealed. In this study, we systematically evaluated the immune responses in mice and hamsters with different prime-boost regimens before their protective efficacies against Omicron were detected. We found that boosting with Ad5-nCoV, SWT-2P or SOmicron-6P induced significantly higher levels of neutralization activities against Omicron variants than CoronaVac and ZF2001 by eliciting stronger germinal center (GC) responses. Specifically, SOmicron-6P induced even stronger antibody responses against Omicron variants in CoronaVac and Ad5-nCoV-primed animals than non-Omicron-specific vaccines but with limited differences as compared to Ad5-nCoV and SWT-2P. In addition, boosting with a specific vaccine has the potential to remodel the existing immune profiles. These findings indicated that adenovirus-vectored vaccines and mRNA vaccines would be more effective than other types of vaccines as booster shots in combating Omicron infections. Moreover, the protective efficacies of the vaccines in booster vaccinations are highly related to GC reactions in secondary lymphatic organs. In summary, these findings provide timely important information on prime-boost regimens and future vaccine design.
