Preliminary In Vivo Evidence of Oral Selenium Supplementation as a Potentiating Agent on a Vector-Based COVID-19 Vaccine in BALB/c Mice

Evidence of efficacy and toxicity of oral selenium supplementation in vaccine administration against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) in mice models is scarce. In this study, 4 × 109 virus particles (40 µL) dose of Janssen COVID-19 intramuscular injection vaccine was supplemented with a commercial selenium supplement and sodium selenite orally in BALB/c mice (N = 18). Qualitative determination of anti-spike IgG antibody response using indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) showed significant (p ≤ 0.001) increase in anti-spike IgG antibody response for mice groups immunized with vaccine and supplemented selenium. Furthermore, cytokine profiling using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction also showed an increase in IL-6 and IL-10 mRNA levels normalized using hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase 1 (Hprt1) and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (Gadph) housekeeping genes. There was no statistical significance (p < 0.465) among treated and untreated groups for alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), urea, and creatinine parameters. The study presents preliminary findings and suggests that supplementing Janssen COVID-19 vaccines with selenium can generate more robust immune responses.