Vaccines – SARS-CoV-2 Doggybone DNA Vaccine Produces Cross-Variant Neutralizing Antibodies and Is Protective in a COVID-19 Animal Model
Publication – MDPI Vaccines
The most effective way to end the COVID-19 pandemic is through the development of medical countermeasures to combat SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease. The rise of the variants has also illustrated the need for the rapid evolution of vaccines, a niche that is well-suited for nucleic-acid-based vaccines. In this paper, two DNA vaccine approaches are compared: a conventional plasmid DNA vaccine and a novel, synthetic, linear DNA vaccine, comprising doggybone DNA. Both vaccines were protective in a small animal model of severe disease. Moreover, serum from animals vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccines retained a level of neutralization against multiple emerging variants.
The publication is the outcome from the collaboration of Dr Lisa Caproni, Dr Sungwon Kim and Dr Helen Horton, Touchlight Genetics, alongside Dr Jay Hooper and his team from the Virology Division and Pathology Division, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
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About doggybone DNA (dbDNA™)
Doggybone or dbDNA™ is linear, double stranded, covalently closed DNA vector which is produced in an enzymatic manufacturing process. It can incorporate a gene of interest from 600bp to >20kb making it very flexible to support a range of genetic medicines.