Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2
Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in late 2019, hundreds of millions of people have been infected worldwide. There have been unprecedented efforts in acquiring effective vaccines to confer p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/13083.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827607559944536064 |
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| author | Mohd Zulkifli Salleh Mohd Nor Norazmi Zakuan Zainy Deris |
| author_facet | Mohd Zulkifli Salleh Mohd Nor Norazmi Zakuan Zainy Deris |
| author_sort | Mohd Zulkifli Salleh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in late 2019, hundreds of millions of people have been infected worldwide. There have been unprecedented efforts in acquiring effective vaccines to confer protection against the disease. mRNA vaccines have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional vaccines due to their high potency with the capacity for rapid development and low manufacturing costs. In this review, we summarize the currently available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in development, with the focus on the concepts of mRNA vaccines, their antigen selection, delivery and optimization to increase the immunostimulatory capability of mRNA as well as its stability and translatability. We also discuss the host immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 infection and expound in detail, the adaptive immune response upon immunization with mRNA vaccines, in which high levels of spike-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies were detected after two-dose vaccination. mRNA vaccines have been shown to induce a robust CD8+T cell response, with a balanced CD4+ TH1/TH2 response. We further discuss the challenges and limitations of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, where newly emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 may render currently deployed vaccines less effective. Imbalanced and inappropriate inflammatory responses, resulting from hyper-activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may lead to vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) and rare cases of myocarditis and pericarditis also are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:56:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-21774390c1d249b0bfd680650dd3de65 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:56:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-21774390c1d249b0bfd680650dd3de652023-12-03T10:02:41ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592022-03-0110e1308310.7717/peerj.13083Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2Mohd Zulkifli Salleh0Mohd Nor Norazmi1Zakuan Zainy Deris2Department of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bahru, Kelantan, MalaysiaSchool of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bahru, Kelantan, MalaysiaDepartment of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bahru, Kelantan, MalaysiaSince the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in late 2019, hundreds of millions of people have been infected worldwide. There have been unprecedented efforts in acquiring effective vaccines to confer protection against the disease. mRNA vaccines have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional vaccines due to their high potency with the capacity for rapid development and low manufacturing costs. In this review, we summarize the currently available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in development, with the focus on the concepts of mRNA vaccines, their antigen selection, delivery and optimization to increase the immunostimulatory capability of mRNA as well as its stability and translatability. We also discuss the host immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 infection and expound in detail, the adaptive immune response upon immunization with mRNA vaccines, in which high levels of spike-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies were detected after two-dose vaccination. mRNA vaccines have been shown to induce a robust CD8+T cell response, with a balanced CD4+ TH1/TH2 response. We further discuss the challenges and limitations of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, where newly emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 may render currently deployed vaccines less effective. Imbalanced and inappropriate inflammatory responses, resulting from hyper-activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may lead to vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) and rare cases of myocarditis and pericarditis also are discussed.https://peerj.com/articles/13083.pdfmRNA vaccineCOVID-19SARS-CoV-2Innate immune responseAdaptive immune responseHumoral immune response |
| spellingShingle | Mohd Zulkifli Salleh Mohd Nor Norazmi Zakuan Zainy Deris Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 PeerJ mRNA vaccine COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Innate immune response Adaptive immune response Humoral immune response |
| title | Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 |
| title_full | Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 |
| title_fullStr | Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 |
| title_short | Immunogenicity mechanism of mRNA vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against SARS-CoV-2 |
| title_sort | immunogenicity mechanism of mrna vaccines and their limitations in promoting adaptive protection against sars cov 2 |
| topic | mRNA vaccine COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 Innate immune response Adaptive immune response Humoral immune response |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/13083.pdf |
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