Extended Data Fig. 5. Spatial transcriptomics shows that OTS-206 vaccination induces similar activation of genes related to the immune response to viral infection and reduced inflammatory response.
Short term experimental setup: Age-matched K18-hACE2 mice vaccinated with Spikevax mRNA-vaccine (intramuscularly) or OTS-206 (intranasally) (n=8 mice/group). Challenge with SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC, lung harvest at 2- (n=4) or 5-days (n=4) post challenge (dpc). Mock control group was vaccinated with culture medium. Spatial transcriptomics samples (n=11): OTS 2dpc – (n=2), OTS 5dpc (n=2), mRNA 2dpc (n=2), mRNA 5dpc (n=3), mRNA mock (n=1), OTS mock (n=1). a, Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated between total SARS-CoV-2 gene counts and all host genes to determine spatial correlations. These values are plotted against each other on the x and y axis for the OTS and mRNA 2 dpc samples to show that the spatial gene expression signatures are very similar, as their correlation coefficients are nearly identical. b, Top 20 spatially most correlated genes in the lungs of infected mice vaccinated with OTS-206 or mRNA vaccine. c, Changes in proinflammatory cytokine expression between conditions (n=4/group). d, Spatial JAK-STAT pathway activity in the lung. We can see the co-occurrence between SARS-CoV-2 transcripts from d, and the increased JAK-STAT activity.