NCoV_157MTH
In this study, we sought to understand underlying aspects of an enhanced disease response during heterologous virus infection following immunization with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Young, female BALB/cAnNHsd mice were immunized with whole virus particle-based doubly-inactivated SARS-CoV-2, which was adjuvanted with either Alum or RIBI. Following a prime and boost, these mice were challenged with SHC014, a heterologous pre-emergent coronavirus closely related to SARS-CoV-2. We have shown that mice receiving the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with the RIBI adjuvant are protected from this heterologous challenge, whereas the mice receiving the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with the Alum adjuvant exhibited enhanced disease relative to mock-vaccinated controls. To understand the mechanisms underlying the enhanced disease in the Alum adjuvanted cohort, whole lung tissues were harvested at either 2- or 5-days post-infection, RNA was extracted from whole tissue, and 1x50 reads were generated on an Illumina NovaSeq.