AUTHOR=Primard Charlotte , Monchâtre-Leroy Elodie , Del Campo Judith , Valsesia Séverine , Nikly Elsa , Chevandier Marion , Boué Franck , Servat Alexandre , Wasniewski Marine , Picard-Meyer Evelyne , Courant Thomas , Collin Nicolas , Salguero Francisco J. , Le Vert Alexandre , Guyon-Gellin Delphine , Nicolas Florence TITLE=OVX033, a nucleocapsid-based vaccine candidate, provides broad-spectrum protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants in a hamster challenge model JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1188605 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2023.1188605 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Spike-based COVID-19 vaccines induce potent neutralizing antibodies but their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variants decreases. OVX033 is a recombinant protein composed of the full-length nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 genetically fused to oligoDOM®, a self-assembling domain which improves antigen immunogenicity. OVX033 including N as an antigenic target is proposed as new vaccine candidate providing broad-spectrum protection against sarbecoviruses. OVX033 demonstrated its ability to trigger cross-reactive T cell responses and cross-protection against three variants of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1 Europe, Delta B.1.617.2, and Omicron B.1.1.529) in a hamster challenge model, as evidenced by lower weight loss, lower lung viral loads, and reduced lung histopathological lesions.