Abstract
Introduction: Vaccination is the most effective mechanism to prevent severe COVID-19. However, breakthrough infections and subsequent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remain a significant problem. Intranasal vaccination has the potential to be more effective in preventing disease and limiting transmission between individuals as it induces potent responses at mucosal sites.
Methods: Utilizing a replication-deficient adenovirus serotype 5-vectored vaccine expressing the SARS-CoV-2 RBD (AdCOVID) in homozygous and heterozygous transgenic K18-hACE2, we investigated the impact of the route of administration on vaccine immunogenicity, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and survival.
Results: Mice vaccinated with AdCOVID via the intramuscular or intranasal route and subsequently challenged with SARS-CoV-2 showed that animals vaccinated intranasally had improved cellular and mucosal antibody responses. Additionally, intranasally vaccinated animals had significantly better viremic control, and protection from lethal infection compared to intramuscularly vaccinated animals. Notably, in a novel transmission model, intranasal vaccination reduced viral transmission to naïve co-housed mice compared to intramuscular vaccination.
Discussion: Our data provide convincing evidence for the use of intranasal vaccination in protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-2023
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1188392
Funding Information
Funding was provided through a contract research agreement 000217, and the Saint Louis University COVID-19 research fund.
Repository Citation
Dickson, Alexandria; Geerling, Elizabeth; Stone, E. Taylor; Hassert, Mariah; Steffen, Tara L.; Makkena, Taneesh; Smither, Madeleine; Schwetye, Katherine E.; Zhang, Jianfeng; Georges, Bertrand; Roberts, M. Scot; Suschak, John J.; Pinto, Amelia K.; and Brien, James D., "The role of vaccination route with an adenovirus-vectored vaccine in protection, viral control, and transmission in the SARS-CoV-2/K18-hACE2 mouse infection model" (2023). Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 410.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/markey_facpub/410
Notes/Citation Information
© 2023 Dickson, Geerling, Stone, Hassert, Steffen, Makkena, Smither, Schwetye, Zhang, Georges, Roberts, Suschak, Pinto and Brien. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.