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. 2022 Dec 15;132(24):e159895. doi: 10.1172/JCI159895

Figure 8. Histopathological lesions in the lungs of SARS-CoV-2 BavPat1–challenged hamsters vaccinated with MVA, MVA-S, or MVA-ST.

Figure 8

(A, C, E, and G) Representative overview images of hematoxylin and eosin–stained lung sections and (B, D, F, and H) associated ×100 magnifications. (A and E) Images from MVA control–vaccinated animals show extensive areas of alveolar consolidation (arrowheads). Higher magnification (B and F) reveals markedly thickened alveolar septae, inflammatory infiltrates, and prominent pneumocyte type II hyperplasia with many atypical, large cells (arrowheads) and mitotic figures (arrow). (C and D) MVA-S–vaccinated animals show less lung pathology with multifocal, small foci of alveolar consolidation, which are qualitatively similar to the lesions in controls. (G and H) Most MVA-ST–vaccinated animals show no alveolar lesions. (E) Quantification of histopathological lesions. Vaccination with recombinant MVAs significantly reduces lung lesions compared with control groups. (J and K) Immunohistochemistry for SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein in the lungs of hamsters vaccinated with MVA (control), MVA-S, or MVA-ST, challenged with SARS-CoV-2 BavPat1. (J) Semiquantitative scoring of viral antigen amount. No viral antigen was detected in MVA-S– or MVA-ST–vaccinated animals. (K) SARS-CoV-2 antigen (brown signal) is predominantly found in pneumocytes lining alveoli (×100 magnification). Dotted lines mark the zero value. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test.