Investigation of the hosts' induced elements in response to the immunisation with ChAdOx1 nCOV-19 vaccine in a Phase III Clinical Trial

• Grant number: 20/08943-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Duration: December 01, 2020 - November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Public Health
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Mário Ramos Janini
• Grantee: Luiz Mário Ramos Janini
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Marcelo Ribeiro da Silva Briones ; Maria Isabel de Moraes Pinto
• Associated researchers: Carla Torres Braconi ; Daniela Santoro Rosa ; Eduardo Alexandrino Servolo de Medeiros ; Fernando Martins Antoneli Junior ; Gilles Landman ; Ieda Maria Longo Maugéri ; Isabel Maria Vicente Guedes de Carvalho Mello ; Juliana Terzi Maricato ; Lily Yin Weckx ; Marimélia Aparecida Porcionatto ; Mauro José Costa Salles ; Paulo Roberto Abrão Ferreira ; Ricardo Sobhie Diaz
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/03496-6 - Cytokine profile and immunophenotyping of peripheral blood lymphocytes and myeloid suppressor cells in SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated individuals during episodes of respiratory symptoms: correlation with virus and intensity of clinical manifestations., BP.TT; 21/13111-1 - Mapping of genomic and epigenomic variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the State of São Paulo and alterations in the blood transcriptome associated with the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in UNIFESP volunteers, BP.PD; 21/11236-1 - Blood transcriptome alterations caused by the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in UNIFESP volunteers, BP.TT; 21/05661-1 - Viral characterization of Brazilian isolates of SARS-CoV-2 and study of sequence variation and evolutionary patterns of Spike protein to evaluate potential vaccine escape by target or epitope modification, BP.PD

Abstract

This research proposal consists of a "spin-off" project based on volunteer samples of the Oxford-UNIFESP ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine trial. The proposal will involve the 1,000 volunteer samples, and corresponding time points, to primarily establish a repository for the whole academic community of the São Paulo State. This repository will be converted in a Biobank after the project is concluded, as is stated in current legislation. In addition, the samples stored in the Biorepository will be used to perform analysis of these samples that do not overlap with the "Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures" as described in the clinical trial documentation available in ClinicalTrials.gov (National Institutes of Health, ID NCT04400838). This project will be coordinated by Prof. Luiz Mario Janini and will include a team of principal investigators in different areas pertaining to the specific objectives and research track record at FAPESP. The objectives of this project are: (1) to establish a Biorepository containing all samples obtained from volunteers before and after vaccination. This Biorepository will be available, according to legal procedures, to all São Paulo State scientific community as determined by FAPESP guidelines, (2) to evaluate the neutralizing capacity of sera from vaccinated subjects against Brazilian-specific circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains and other Brazilian-specific strains of coronavirus for assessment of cross immunity, (3) to characterize Brazilian specific isolates of SARS-CoV-2 and study the sequence variation and evolutionary patterns of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein in to assess the potential of vaccine escape by modification of the target or epitopes, (4) to generate and analyze cytokine profiles of sera from volunteers before and after vaccination to evaluate the inflammatory response and associated effects, (5) To analyze and compare the blood transcriptomes of volunteers, by RNA-seq, before and after vaccination. This analysis will be quantitative and qualitative to evaluate the impact of the vaccine on differential gene expression levels and assess the individual variation in genetic response to the vaccine and (6) To analyze the whole blood secretome profiles of volunteers, before and after vaccination, to assess the predominant type of immune response and priming by another coronavirus. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CAMPOS, JOAO H. C.; MARICATO, JULIANA T.; BRACONI, CARLA T.; ANTONELI, FERNANDO; JANINI, LUIZ MARIO R.; BRIONES, MARCELO R. S.. Direct RNA Sequencing Reveals SARS-CoV-2 m6A Sites and Possible Differential DRACH Motif Methylation among Variants. Viruses-Basel, v. 13, n. 11, NOV 2021. (20/08943-5)

ANTONELI, F.; FURUYAMA, T. N.; CARVALHO, I. M. V. G.; BRIONES, M. R. S.; JANINI, L. M. R.. Temporal data series and logistic models reveal the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein D614G variant in the COVID-19 pandemic. Genetics and Molecular Research, v. 20, n. 4, DEC 13 2021. (20/08943-5)

ANDREATA-SANTOS, ROBERT; JANINI, LUIZ M. R.; DURAES-CARVALHO, RICARDO. From Alpha to Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants: What their evolutionary signatures can tell us?. Journal of Medical Virology, JAN 2022. (21/03684-4, 19/01255-9, 21/05661-1, 20/08943-5)