Humoral immune response to authentic circulating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 variants elicited by booster vaccination with distinct receptor-binding domain subunits in mice

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants could induce immune escape by mutations of the spike protein which are threatening to weaken vaccine efficacy. A booster vaccination is expected to increase the humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 variants in the population. We showed that immunization with two doses of wild type receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein, and booster vaccination with wild type or variant RBD protein all significantly increased binding and neutralizing antibody titers against wild type SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in mice. Only the booster immunization by Omicron (BA.1)RBD induced a strong antibody titer against the omicron virus strain and comparable antibody titers against all the other virus strains. These findings might shed the light on coronavirus disease 2019 booster immunogens.