Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0NPJ Vaccines
Preclinical immunogenicity of the LP.8.1-adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine
- 1Pfizer Vaccines, Pearl River, New York, NY USA
- 2Pfizer Data Sciences and Analytics, Pearl River, New York, NY USA
- 3BioNTech, Mainz, Germany
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 evolution toward antigenically distinct lineages drives escape from host immunity. JN.1 lineage derivatives have recently dominated the global epidemiologic landscape. In preclinical models, an LP.8.1-adapted BNT162b2 vaccine elicited higher serum neutralizing antibody responses against contemporary, circulating JN.1 sublineages, including the epidemiologically dominant XFG lineage, as compared to JN.1 and KP.2 vaccines. These findings supported the selection of an LP.8.1-adapted vaccine for the composition of the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine formula.
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BibTeX
@article{kurhade2026preclinical,
title = {{Preclinical immunogenicity of the LP.8.1-adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine}},
author = {Chaitanya Kurhade and Wei Chen and Weiqiang Li and Kristin R. Tompkins and Lyndsey T. Martinez and Swati Rajput and Emily Babiarz and Aaron Yam and Shin-Ae Lee and Shikha Shrivastava and Sarah O’Leary and Subrata Saha and Hui Yao and Li Hao and Todd Coffey and Carla Iris Cadima Couto and Alexander Muik and Raquel Munoz Moreno and Wesley Swanson and Pilar Mendoza and Uğur Şahin and Annaliesa S. Anderson and Kena A. Swanson and Pirada Suphaphiphat Allen and Kayvon Modjarrad},
journal = {NPJ Vaccines},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s41541-026-01515-8},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-026-01515-8},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Preclinical immunogenicity of the LP.8.1-adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine
AU - Chaitanya Kurhade
AU - Wei Chen
AU - Weiqiang Li
AU - Kristin R. Tompkins
AU - Lyndsey T. Martinez
AU - Swati Rajput
AU - Emily Babiarz
AU - Aaron Yam
AU - Shin-Ae Lee
AU - Shikha Shrivastava
AU - Sarah O’Leary
AU - Subrata Saha
AU - Hui Yao
AU - Li Hao
AU - Todd Coffey
AU - Carla Iris Cadima Couto
AU - Alexander Muik
AU - Raquel Munoz Moreno
AU - Wesley Swanson
AU - Pilar Mendoza
AU - Uğur Şahin
AU - Annaliesa S. Anderson
AU - Kena A. Swanson
AU - Pirada Suphaphiphat Allen
AU - Kayvon Modjarrad
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/06
JO - NPJ Vaccines
DO - 10.1038/s41541-026-01515-8
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-026-01515-8
AB - SARS-CoV-2 evolution toward antigenically distinct lineages drives escape from host immunity. JN.1 lineage derivatives have recently dominated the global epidemiologic landscape. In preclinical models, an LP.8.1-adapted BNT162b2 vaccine elicited higher serum neutralizing antibody responses against contemporary, circulating JN.1 sublineages, including the epidemiologically dominant XFG lineage, as compared to JN.1 and KP.2 vaccines. These findings supported the selection of an LP.8.1-adapted vaccine for the composition of the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine formula.
SN - 2059-0105
ER -