A vaccine that protects against all variants. This is the goal the researchers are aiming for and encouraging signs are arriving. The Higher Institute of Health (ISS) has developed a new prototype of a drug, based on a protein common to all variants. Preclinical tests conducted on mice have shown its effectiveness. The hope is to have confirmation from human tests.
How the new vaccine works
The study, just published in the journal Viruses and conducted by researchers from the National Center for Global Health of the National Institute of Health has shown that this new innovative approach generates an effective and lasting immune response in mice infected with Covid. The method is based on a new strategy that has selected the N protein as a target, a protein which, unlike the more well-known spike involved in the development of current vaccines, shows almost no mutation between the variants known so far. The method with which the N protein is used in this study also generates an immune memory in the lungs that could guarantee a lasting protective effect over time. The ISS explains that “the new mechanism is based on the engineering of nanovesicles naturally released by muscle cells and could overcome the limitations of current vaccines on antibody decay and loss of efficacy against emerging variants.” The team of researchers demonstrated that, “when extracellular vesicles are loaded with SARS CoV 2 nucleocapsid protein N, an immune reaction can be generated in mice to induce substantial protection from infection with very high viral loads. , in the animal model studied, the technique developed in ISS is able to generate an immune memory at the level of the respiratory tract, an essential condition for a lasting effect of any vaccination strategy against respiratory pathogens “.
“All cells constantly release tiny lipid-based vesicles defined extracellular vesicles – explains Maurizio Federico, head of the Center and senior author of the study – and the technique developed in Iss is able to load these natural nanovesicles with Sars Cov 2 proteins. . These engineered nanovesicles are processed by the immune system to generate strong cellular immunity orchestrated by a lymphocyte family identified as CD8 lymphocytes. “
How safe is it
Subsequent planned studies will establish parameters such as the safety of the vaccine platform and its tolerability. These parameters will be essential to lay the foundations for future clinical studies aimed at definitively confirming the efficacy of this discovery. It will also be necessary to understand whether any vaccines developed with the new platform should be integrated with forms of immunization based on the technologies currently in use, for example based on mRNA.