Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37779126›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2023

Influence of variant-specific mutations, temperature and pH on conformations of a large set of SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer vaccine antigen candidates.

Matthew Stuible, Joseph D Schrag, Joey Sheff, Daria Zoubchenok, Simon Lord-Dufour, Brian Cass, Denis L'Abbé, Alex Pelletier, Martin A Rossotti, Jamshid Tanha and 5 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 29% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Switching Spike Plasticity Shapes ACE2 Engagement Across SARS-CoV-2 Variants.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Matthew StuibleHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Joseph D SchragHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Joey SheffHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Daria ZoubchenokHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Simon Lord-DufourHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Brian CassHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Denis L'AbbéHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Alex PelletierHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Martin A RossottiHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Jamshid TanhaHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Christian GervaisHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Roger MauriceHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Majida El BakkouriHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Mauro AcchioneHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.
Yves DurocherHuman Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, 6100 Royalmount Avenue, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada. yves.durocher@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.
National Research Council Canada · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccines continue to be the focus of intense clinical development worldwide. Protein antigens in these vaccines most commonly consist of the spike ectodomain fused to a heterologous trimerization sequence, designed to mimic the compact, prefusion conformation of the spike on the virus surface. Since 2020, we have produced dozens of such constructs in CHO cells, consisting of spike variants with different mutations fused to different trimerization sequences. This set of constructs displayed notable conformational heterogeneity, with two distinct trimer species consistently detected by analytical size exclusion chromatography. A recent report showed that spike ectodomain fusion constructs can adopt an alternative trimer conformation consisting of loosely associated ectodomain protomers. Here, we applied multiple biophysical and immunological techniques to demonstrate that this alternative conformation is formed to a significant extent by several SARS-CoV-2 variant spike proteins. We have also examined the influence of temperature and pH, which can induce inter-conversion of the two forms. The substantial structural differences between these trimer types may impact their performance as vaccine antigens.

Indexed as

COVID-19SARS-CoV-2AnimalsAntibodies, NeutralizingAntigensCOVID-19 VaccinesCricetinaeCricetulusHumansHydrogen-Ion ConcentrationMutationTemperatureAntibodies, NeutralizingAntigensCOVID-19 Vaccines

Identifiers

PMID37779126
PMCPMC10543594
OpenAlexW4387231428

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.