Advances in Next-Generation Coronavirus Vaccines in Response to Future Virus Evolution

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread to more than 230 countries and territories worldwide since its outbreak in late 2019. In less than three years, infection by SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in over 600 million cases of COVID-19 and over 6.4 million deaths. Vaccines have been developed with unimaginable speed, and 11 have already been approved by the World Health Organization and given Emergency Use Listing. The administration of several first-generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines has successfully decelerated the spread of COVID-19 but not stopped it completely. In the ongoing fight against viruses, genetic mutations frequently occur in the viral genome, resulting in a decrease in vaccine-induced antibody neutralization and widespread breakthrough infection. Facing the evolution and uncertainty of SARS-CoV-2 in the future, and the possibility of the spillover of other coronaviruses to humans, the need for vaccines with a broad spectrum of antiviral variants against multiple coronaviruses is recognized. It is imperative to develop a universal coronavirus or pan-coronavirus vaccine or drug to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as well as to prevent the next coronavirus pandemic. In this review, in addition to summarizing the protective effect of approved vaccines, we systematically summarize current work on the development of vaccines aimed at suppressing multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as well as multiple coronaviruses.

From Detection to Protection: Antibodies and Their Crucial Role in Diagnosing and Combatting SARS-CoV-2

“…The IBIS, which is a liveattenuated mucosal pan-betacoronavirus vaccine, shows potential against SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and variants, boasting cross-protection and robust immune responses [294]. Additionally, efforts to enhance next-generation vaccine designs by incorporating additional epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses aim to broaden the spectrum of generated cross-protective antibodies, potentially offering increased protection against emerging variants a virus [295]. Given the susceptibility of the S protein to mutations, efforts are shifting towards more conserved regions like the N protein, which could potentially address concern about viral mutations and improve immune responses [296].…”

Immunogenicity and efficacy of a novel multi-patch SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccine candidate

“…In Europe, the approved vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 consist of modified mRNA-S formulated in lipid nanoparticles, adenovirus vectors expressing the S antigen or adjuvanted S protein. The clinical studies have provided solid evidence that the administration of these vaccines in humans efficiently protects against severe disease, hospitalizations and death across age groups and in diverse populations (75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80)(81). However, this protection was maintained for a limited time, generally about 6 months, and was affected by the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 VoCs, being the neutralization response more prone to decay compared with the cellular immunity (13, 82).…”

Dynamics of Serum-Neutralizing Antibody Responses in Vaccinees through Multiple Doses of the BNT162b2 Vaccine

“…The dynamics of immune escape by RNA viruses limits the efficacy of vaccine-induced protective immune responses [32,33]. In particular, mutations within the spike RBD afford viral resistance against neutralizing activities of both therapeutic antibodies and immune sera [34,35].…”