A single-dose live-attenuated YF17D-vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate

Lorena Sanchez-Felipe, Thomas Vercruysse, Sapna Sharma, Ji Ma, Viktor Lemmens, Dominique Van Looveren, Mahadesh Prasad Arkalagud Javarappa, Robbert Boudewijns, Bert Malengier-Devlies, Laurens Liesenborghs, Suzanne J. F. Kaptein, Carolien De Keyzer, Lindsey Bervoets, Sarah Debaveye, Madina Rasulova, Laura Seldeslachts, Li-Hsin Li, Sander Jansen, Michael Bright Yakass, Babs E. Verstrepen, Kinga P. Böszörményi, Gwendoline Kiemenyi-Kayere, Nikki van Driel, Osbourne Quaye, Xin Zhang, Sebastiaan ter Horst, Niraj Mishra, Ward Deboutte, Jelle Matthijnssens, Lotte Coelmont, Corinne Vandermeulen, Elisabeth Heylen, Valentijn Vergote, Dominique Schols, Zhongde Wang, Willy Bogers, Thijs Kuiken, Ernst Verschoor, Christopher Cawthorne, Koen Van Laere, Ghislain Opdenakker, Greetje Vande Velde, Birgit Weynand, Dirk E. Teuwen, Patrick Matthys, Johan Neyts, Hendrik Jan Thibaut, Kai Dallmeier

An efficacious and fast-acting vaccine is presented: the live virus-vectored SARS-CoV-2 yellow fever 17D (YF17D) vaccine expressing a non-cleavable prefusion form of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike antigen. The vaccine candidate YF-S0 shows an outstanding safety profile and induces high levels of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in hamsters, mice and cynomolgus macaques, and concomitantly a protective immunity against yellow fever virus. Rapid protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection, after only a single dose warrants further development of this potent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate.

Published December 2020 in Nature