SARS-CoV-2 infection protects against rechallenge in rhesus macaques.

Abishek Chandrashekar Jinyan Liu Amanda J Martinot Katherine A McMahan Noe B Mercado Lauren Peter Lisa H Tostanoski Jingyou Yu Zoltan MaligaMichael NekorchukKathleen Busman-Sahay Margaret Terry Linda M Wrijil Sarah DucatDavid R MartinezCaroline G Atyeo Stephanie Fischinger John S Burke Matthew D Slein Laurent Pessiant Alex Van Ry Jack Greenhouse Tammy Taylor Kelvin BladeAnthony CookBrad FinneyfrockRenita BrownElyse TeowJason VelascoRoland C Zahn Frank Wegmann Peter Abbink Esther A Bondzie Gabriel Dagotto Makda S GebreXuan HeCatherine Jacob-Dolan Nicole E KordanaZhenfeng LiMichelle A Lifton Shant H Mahrokhian Lori F Maxfield Ramya Nityanandam Joseph P Nkolola Aaron G Schmidt Andrew D Miller Ralph S Baric Galit Alter Peter Karl Sorger Jacob D Estes Hanne A Elyard Mark G Lewis Dan H Barouch

Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2020)

An understanding of protective immunity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical for vaccine and public health strategies aimed at ending the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A key unanswered question is whether infection with SARS-CoV-2 results in protective immunity against reexposure. We developed a rhesus macaque model of SARS-CoV-2 infection and observed that macaques had high viral loads in the upper and lower respiratory tract, humoral and cellular immune responses, and pathologic evidence of viral pneumonia. After the initial viral clearance, animals were rechallenged with SARS-CoV-2 and showed 5 log10 reductions in median viral loads in bronchoalveolar lavage and nasal mucosa compared with after the primary infection. Anamnestic immune responses after rechallenge suggested that protection was mediated by immunologic control. These data show that SARS-CoV-2 infection induced protective immunity against reexposure in nonhuman primates.

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