New one vaccine It may be effective against corona viruses that have not yet appeared, it is hoped that it can be used to fight in the future epidemicsresearch suggests.
Scientists from Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Caltech in America are developing an innovative approach called “proactive vaccinology” that aims to train the body immune system To identify many different corona viruses.
The antigen used in the vaccine – a substance that triggers an immune response in the body – is found in eight different coronaviruses, including one that spreads in bats. It trains the immune system to go after parts of the antigen that the virus and others similar to it share, including those not included in the vaccine.
For example, the vaccine does not contain the SARS-CoV-1 virus that caused the SARs outbreak in 2003, but it can generate an immune response to it.
Typically vaccines, such as the one used for the COVID-19 outbreak, work by using a single antigen to train the immune system to target a specific and single virus.
“Our focus is on creating a vaccine that will protect us from the next coronavirus pandemic, and getting it ready before the pandemic even starts,” said Rory Hills, a graduate researcher in the department of pharmacology at the University of Cambridge and first author of the study. Report.
He said: “We have created a vaccine that offers protection against different types of coronavirus – including ones we don’t know about yet.”
results are published in journal nature nanotechnology,
The report’s senior author, Professor Mark Howarth in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge, said: “We do not have to wait for the new coronavirus to emerge. We know enough about coronaviruses and the different immune responses to them, so that we can create protective vaccines against now unknown coronaviruses.
“Scientists did a great job during the last pandemic in quickly producing a highly effective Covid vaccine, but the world was still in a major crisis with a huge number of deaths. We need to work on how we can do even better in the future, and a powerful component of that is starting to manufacture vaccines already.
The study showed that the new vaccine, called a “quartet nanocage,” boosted a broad immune system response in mice, including mice that were already immunized against SAR-Cov-2 Which caused the pandemic of 2020.
According to the study, it is “simple” in design compared to other vaccines being developed and can be used to develop vaccines for other health problems. The study should enter Phase 1 clinical trials by early 2025.
The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.