New all-in-one vaccine could prove effective against all coronaviruses

A team of scientists from one of the world's leading universities has developed a new all-in-one vaccine that is expected to be able to protect humans from a wide range of coronaviruses, including those that have not yet emerged.

The study, published Monday in Nature Nanotechnology, is based on a new approach to vaccine development called “proactive vaccinology,” in which scientists build vaccines before disease-causing pathogens emerge. , has shown promising results in mice.

Research by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK and the California Institute of Technology in the US shows that the vaccine recognizes specific regions of eight coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, which caused the novel coronavirus outbreak. states that it works by training the body's immune system. Some are currently circulating in bats and could jump to humans and cause a pandemic.

“Our focus is to develop a vaccine that protects us from the next coronavirus pandemic, so that we can be prepared before the pandemic starts,” said Dr. said author Rory Hills. report.

For example, new vaccines do not contain the SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, but they still induce an immune response against that virus.

“We have developed vaccines that provide protection against a variety of coronaviruses, including coronaviruses that are still unknown,” Hills said.

The key to its effectiveness is that the specific viral region targeted by the vaccine also appears in many related coronaviruses. Training the immune system to attack these areas provides protection against other coronaviruses not included in vaccines, including those not yet identified.

“We don't have to wait for new coronaviruses to emerge. We know enough about coronaviruses and the different immune responses to them that we can start developing protective vaccines against unknown coronaviruses now.” Professor Mark Howarth from the University of Cambridge's School of Pharmacy, lead author of the report, said:

“During the last pandemic, scientists did a great job of quickly producing a highly effective coronavirus vaccine, but the world still faces a massive crisis with a huge number of deaths. “We need to think about how to make it even better in the future, and pre-manufacturing vaccines is a strong part of that,” he said.

The new “quartet nanocage” vaccine is based on structures called nanoparticles, spheres of proteins held together by incredibly strong interactions. Chains of different viral antigens are attached to the nanoparticles using a new 'protein superglue'. These chains contain multiple antigens, which train the immune system to target specific regions common to a wide range of coronaviruses.

The latest study demonstrated that the new vaccine elicited a broad immune response even in mice pre-immunized with SARS-CoV-2.

The new vaccine is much simpler in design than other broadly preventive vaccines currently in development, and researchers believe it will accelerate the move to clinical trials.

The basic technology developed through scientific collaboration could also be used to develop vaccines to protect against many other health problems. It is said to be an improvement on previous work by a group from the University of Oxford and the California Institute of Technology to develop a new all-in-one vaccine against the coronavirus threat.

Traditional vaccines contain a single antigen to train the immune system to target one specific virus, experts say, and can be used against a variety of existing coronaviruses or newly emerging pathogens. There is a possibility that it cannot be defended against.

The latest research was funded by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.