Neutralizing antibody-dependent and -independent immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in cynomolgus macaques

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infectious disease (COVID-19) has been threatening the world because of severe symptoms and relatively high mortality. To develop vaccines and antiviral drugs for COVID-19, an animal model of SARS-CoV-2 infection is required to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactics and therapeutics in vivo. Therefore, we examined the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 in cynomolgus macaques until 28 days after virus inoculation in the present study. Cynomolgus macaques showed body temperature rises after infection and X-ray radiographic viral pneumonia was observed in one of three macaques. However, none of the macaques showed life-threatening clinical signs of disease corresponding that approximately 80% of human patients did not show a critical disease in COVID-19. A neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2 and T-lymphocytes that produced interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-2 specifically for SARS-CoV-2 N protein were detected on day 14 in the macaque that showed viral pneumonia. On the other hand, in the other macaques, in which a neutralizing antibody was not detected, T-lymphocytes that produced IFN-γ specifically for SARS-CoV-2 N protein increased on day 7 to day 14 prior to an increase in the number of T-lymphocytes that produced IL-2. These results suggest that not only a neutralizing antibody but also cellular immunity augmented by IFN-γ has a role in the elimination of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, because of the mild clinical signs of disease and low/no antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 in two thirds of the macaques, cynomolgus macaques are appropriate to extrapolate human responses in vaccine and drug development.