Novel mRNA vaccines encoding Monkeypox virus M1R and A35R protect mice from a lethal virus challenge

Hou, F.; Zhang, Y.; Liu, W.; Murad, Y.; Xu, J.; Yu, Z.; Hua, X.; Song, Y.; Ding, J.; Huang, C.; Jia, W.; Yang, X.

doi:10.1101/2022.11.19.517190

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.11.19.517190

Novel mRNA vaccines encoding Monkeypox virus M1R and A35R protect mice from a lethal virus challenge

Hou, F.·Zhang, Y.·Liu, W.·Murad, Y.·Xu, J.·Yu, Z.·Hua, X.·Song, Y.·Ding, J.·Huang, C.·Jia, W.·Yang, X.

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Abstract

The outbreak of Monkeypox virus infection urgently need effective vaccines. However, the vaccines so far approved are all based on whole-virus, which raises safety concerns. MRNA vaccines has demonstrated its high efficacy and safety against SARS-Cov-2 infection. Here, we developed three mRNA vaccines encoding Monkeypox proteins M1R and A35R, including A35R-M1R fusions (VGPox1 and VGPox 2) and a combination of encapsulated full-length mRNAs for A35R and M1R (VGPox 3). All three vaccines induced anti-A35R total IgGs as early as day 7 following a single vaccination. However, only VGPox 1 and 2 produced anti-M1R total IgGs at early dates following vaccination while VGPox 3 did not show significant anti-M1R antibody till day 35. Similar results were also found in neutralizing antibodies and T cell immune response. However, all mRNA vaccine groups completely protected mice from a lethal dose virus challenge and effectively cleared virus in lungs. Collectively, our results indicate that the novel mRNA vaccines coding for a fusion protein of A35R and M1R had a better anti-virus immunity than co-expression of the two individual proteins. The mRNA vaccines are highly effective and can be an alternative to the current whole-virus vaccines to defend Monkeypox virus infection.

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Hou, F., Zhang, Y., Liu, W., Murad, Y., Xu, J., Yu, Z., Hua, X., Song, Y., Ding, J., Huang, C., Jia, W., Yang, X.. 2022-11-21. Novel mRNA vaccines encoding Monkeypox virus M1R and A35R protect mice from a lethal virus challenge. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.19.517190

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