Live attenuated vaccination protects aged chimeric ACE2 mice from severe SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity in vivo

Alina Russ; Vera Viherlehto; Stefanie Brey; Sabine Wittmann; Pascal Irrgang; Natascha Leicht; Arne Cordsmeier; Armin Ensser; Ralf J. Rieker; Carol Geppert; Heinrich Sticht; Matthias Tenbusch; Thomas H. Winkler; Thomas Gramberg

doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1014167

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Live attenuated vaccination protects aged chimeric ACE2 mice from severe SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity in vivo

Alina Russ ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Alina Russ, Vera Viherlehto

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Vera Viherlehto ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Alina Russ, Vera Viherlehto

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Stefanie Brey,

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Department of Biology, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Sabine Wittmann,

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Pascal Irrgang,

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Natascha Leicht,

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Institute of Pathology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Arne Cordsmeier,

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Armin Ensser,

Roles Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Resources

Affiliation Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Ralf J. Rieker,

Roles Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Institute of Pathology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-EMN (CCC ER-EMN), Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Carol Geppert,

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliations Institute of Pathology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-EMN (CCC ER-EMN), Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Heinrich Sticht,

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Division of Bioinformatics, Institute of Biochemistry, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Matthias Tenbusch,

Roles Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany, FAU Profile Center Immunomedicine (FAU I-MED), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Thomas H. Winkler,

Roles Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Biology, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Center for Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany
⨯
Thomas Gramberg

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: thomas.gramberg@fau.de

Affiliations Harald zur Hausen Institute of Virology, Uniklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany, FAU Profile Center Immunomedicine (FAU I-MED), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5507-6721

⨯

Live attenuated vaccination protects aged chimeric ACE2 mice from severe SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity in vivo

Alina Russ,
Vera Viherlehto,
Stefanie Brey,
Sabine Wittmann,
Pascal Irrgang,
Natascha Leicht,
Arne Cordsmeier,
Armin Ensser,
Ralf J. Rieker,
Carol Geppert

Published: April 22, 2026
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1014167

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