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(Reuters) – A booster shot of an experimental vaccine being developed by SK Bioscience has shown “durable protection” against the Omicron variant in Rhesus macaques, according to new data.
The monkeys had received two initial doses of the vaccine plus a booster 6 or 12 months later. Blood samples from the boosted primates showed “remarkably high” levels of antibodies that could neutralize both the original strain of the virus and the Omicron variant that caused infections to soar, the researchers reported on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. The animals’ second-line immune defenses were also “substantial and persistent,” they said.
The vaccine, called GBP510, triggers responses from the immune system by delivering copies of a key part of the spike protein from the surface of the coronavirus. The protein “subunits” are studded onto nanoparticles to resemble the virus itself. These components are supplemented with an adjuvant from GSK that boosts the immune system’s responses.
“Vaccination with two doses…followed a year later by a booster shot… plus adjuvant, led to highly durable antibody responses and protection against Omicron infection, even six months later,” said study leader Bali Pulendran of Stanford University in California.
Large late-stage trials of GBP510 in humans are underway.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3JwHWbg bioRxiv, online March 20, 2022.
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