The results of preclinical research on the application of a vaccine platform against Covid based on the engineering of extracellular vesicles developed exclusively by researchers from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità are positive. The data shows that using the N protein of the virus used as an antigen it can reduce virus replication levels more than 1000 times in the lungs of laboratory mice, and this antiviral effect has been seen to last even months after vaccination.
This method, according to what the ISS reports in a note, could pave the way for applications also in oncology. The data were published in the journal NPJ Vaccines, from the Nature group. “This particular method of vaccination – he explains Maurizio Federico, who coordinated the research – consists in introducing the immunogenic protein of interest (antigen) into the extracellular vesicles naturally released by muscle cells. The nanovesicles thus produced are capable of diffusing in each tissue area, inducing a powerful response by the cellular immunity capable of selectively eliminating the cells expressing the selected antigen.
One of the most promising aspects demonstrated in these studies concerns precisely the ability of this method to induce a strong and, above all, long-lasting cellular immunity in tissues, such as the lung, which normally allow the immune cells present in the circulatory system to penetrate with difficulty. This is a extremely important result if evaluated also in the perspective of an application against different types of oncological diseases”. On the basis of these results, which promise significant repercussions also in oncology, explains Federico, it is now possible to proceed with tests on humans, while other planned studies will establish the safety of the vaccine platform and its tolerability.
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