The SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Pipeline: an Overview

Abstract

Purpose of Review The goal of this review is to provide a timely overview on efforts to develop a vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of coronavirus disease . Recent Findings Previous research efforts to develop a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) vaccine in the years following the 2003 pandemic have opened the door for investigators to design vaccine concepts and approaches for the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 exhibit a high degree of genetic similarity and bind to the same host cell ACE2 receptor. Based on previous experience with SARS-CoV vaccines, it is expected that all COVID-19 vaccines will require careful safety evaluations for immunopotentiation that could lead to increased infectivity or eosinophilic infiltration. Besides this, a COVID-19 vaccine target product profile must address vaccinating at-risk human populations including frontline healthcare workers, individuals over the age of 60, and those with underlying and debilitating chronic conditions. Among the vaccine technologies under evaluation are whole virus vaccines, recombinant protein subunit vaccines, and nucleic acid vaccines. Summary Each current vaccine strategy has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is paramount that multiple strategies be advanced quickly and then evaluated for safety and efficacy. Ultimately, the safety studies to minimize undesired immunopotentiation will become the most significant bottleneck in terms of time.

Cardiovascular Considerations for Patients, Health Care Workers, and Health Systems During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Since an extremely large and increasing number of patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19, identification of prognostic factors associated with morbidity and mortality are crucial. To date, no approved preventative vaccines or approved therapies are available for COVID-19, although several are being actively studied (24).…”

A Large-scale Drug Repositioning Survey for SARS-CoV-2 Antivirals

“…Thus, there is an urgent and critical need to identify novel medical countermeasures both for prophylactic and treatment use. Since the production of a vaccine could take 12-18 months 13 , and de novo development of therapies usually requires 10-17 years 14 , repositioning clinically evaluated drugs represents one of the most practicable strategies for the rapid identification and deployment of treatments for emerging infectious diseases such as Toward this end, in addition to many anti-immune treatments not addressed in this paper, many investigational clinical trials using repurposed drugs for evaluation of direct antiviral activity have already been launched. Those include multiple antiviral and antimalarial medicines.…”

Protein structure analysis of the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and the human ACE2 receptor: from conformational changes to novel neutralizing antibodies

“…At the same time, already at the preclinical level, the administered vaccines based on the administration of the entire SARS-CoV-2 spike protein ( (56)(57)(58) or on the administration of the single SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD, will induce the production of specific antibodies that might be sequenced and modelled in silico. On this concern, the provided molecular network will help in quantifying interactions between SARS-CoV-2 RBD (also in cases of different RBD variants (86)) and the newly investigated antibodies, i.e.lower the calculated binding energy in the modelled complex, higher the likelihood to have more success with the investigated vaccines/antibodies.…”