Disclosed herein are methods for inducing immunity against a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) in a patient in need thereof. The method comprises administering a vaccine composition comprising a self-adjuvanted SARS-CoV2 Spike (S) RNA-based vaccine (AAHI-SC2), followed by administering a replication defective adenovirus (hAd5) vaccine composition, wherein the adenovirus comprises an E1 gene region deletion and an E2b gene region deletion.

The present invention relates i.a. to a 4/91 IBV (infectious bronchitis virus) encoding for a heterologous S (spike) protein or fragment thereof. Further, the present invention relates to an immunogenic composition comprising said 4/91 IBV encoding for a heterologous S (spike) protein or fragment thereof. Furthermore, the present invention relates to methods for immunizing a subject comprising administering to such subject the immunogenic composition of the present invention. Moreover, the present invention relates to methods of treating or preventing clinical signs caused by IBV in a subject of need, the method comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of an immunogenic composition according to the present invention.

An immunogenic CD40-targeted trimeric MERS-CoV S1 fusion polypeptide as well as a corresponding polynucleotide encoding it and its use for safely inducing immune responses directed against MERS-CoV without inducing vaccine associated respiratory pathologies associated with non-targeted vaccines.

The present invention relates to peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and cells for use in immunotherapeutic methods. In particular, the present invention relates to the immunotherapy of an infection by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The present invention furthermore relates to SARS-CoV-2-associated T-cell peptide epitopes that can for example serve as active pharmaceutical ingredients of vaccine compositions that stimulate anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses, or to stimulate T-cells ex vivo and transfer them into patients. Peptides bound to molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), or peptides as such, can also be targets of antibodies, soluble T-cell receptors, and other binding molecules.

The present disclosure provides polypeptides, and nucleic acids encoding the polypeptides, that include severe acute respiratory syndrome Co-V-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike polypeptide receptor-binding domain (RBD) polypeptides or variants thereof, which are capable of multimerization and thus presenting multiple copies of the RBD to enhance the immune response generated when the polypeptide is administered to a subject. The disclosure also provides multimers, scaffolds, compositions, pharmaceutical compositions, and vaccines that include the polypeptides and/or nucleic acids that encode such polypeptides.

Disclosed are synthetic modified vaccinia ankara (MVA)-based vaccines for preventing or treating coronavirus infections and methods of producing the vaccines. Specifically, the disclosure provides a vaccine composition comprising: (i) a single synthetic DNA fragment or two or more synthetic DNA fragments comprising the entire genome of an MVA, and (ii) one or more DNA sequences encoding one or more coronavirus antigens, subunits, or fragments thereof, inserted in one or more insertion sites of the MVA for preventing or treating coronavirus infections.

The present application relates to the fields of biotechnology, immunology, virology, genetics, and molecular biology. More specifically, the present invention relates to an isolated recombinant receptor-binding domain of the S glycoprotein (RBD-S) of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2), to a nucleic acid that encodes RBD-S of SARS-CoV-2, to an expression cassette and a vector based thereon, as well as to a recombinant AAV5 (adeno-associated vims serotype 5)-based virus for the induction of specific immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and/or prevention of the SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus infection, to an AAV5-based vaccine for the induction of specific immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and/or prevention of the SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus infection, and to their use for the induction of specific immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and/or prevention of the SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus infection.

In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a mutated SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein (mutated S glycoprotein) comprising a SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein amino acid sequence having one or more mutations compared to a wildtype S glycoprotein, wherein the mutated S glycoprotein minimizes (i) antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) and/or (ii) vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) when administered to or expressed in a subject. In another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method of using the mutated S glycoprotein of the present disclosure to induce at least partial immunity to a coronavirus in a subject.

Cellular vaccine platforms, such as vaccine immune viral opsonization platforms, for eliciting host immune responses are disclosed. Also disclosed are the methods of making and using the cellular vaccine platforms in stimulating host immune responses.

The present disclosure is directed to a recombinant nucleic acid construct encoding a defective interfering coronaviridae virus particle. The recombinant construct comprises: a nucleotide sequence encoding coronaviridae replication signals, wherein said nucleotide sequence of said recombinant nucleic acid construct does not encode one or more functional coronaviridae proteins. Defective interfering coronaviridae virus-like particles produced from the recombinant nucleic acid construct are also disclosed along with methods of treating a subject having a corona virus infection using the virus-like particle.