ABSTRACT Common cold coronaviruses, such as OC43 and HKU1, typically cause mild respiratory infections in healthy people. However, they can lead to severe illness in high-risk groups , including immunocompromised individuals and older adults. Currently, there is no clinically approved vaccine to prevent infection by common cold coronaviruses. Here, we developed an mRNA vaccine expressing a stabilized spike protein derived from OC43 coronavirus and tested its efficacy in different challenge models in C57BL/6 mice . This novel OC43 vaccine elicited OC43-specific immune responses, as well as cross-reactive immune response against other embecoviruses , including HKU1 and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-A59). Interestingly, this OC43 vaccine protected mice not only against a lethal OC43 infection but also against a distant embecovirus, MHV-A59. These findings provide insights for the development of common cold coronavirus vaccines, demonstrating their potential to protect against various c...
Media Monitoring for Signals about Emerging Threats