Rory Hills, a graduate researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Pharmacology, wants to be ready with a vaccine that will protect us against the next coronavirus pandemic before the pandemic has even started. Credit: Jacqueline Garget
Key points:
- Researchers have developed new technology called “proactive vaccinology” that can protect against a broad range of coronaviruses – including ones that have not been identified yet.
- In mice, the new vaccine raised a broad immune response, even for those who were pre-immunized with SARS-CoV-2.
- With a simple design and broad applicability, the team hopes to bring their new technology to vaccine development for many health challenges.
Researchers have developed new technology that may provide protection against a broad range of coronaviruses – including ones that are not known yet. The new approach, called “proactive vaccinology” is described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Researchers’ new vaccine works by training the immune system to recognize specific regions of eight different coronaviruses. Importantly, these regions are present in many related coronaviruses. Training the immune system to attack these regions provides protection against other coronaviruses not represented in the vaccine.
“We don’t have to wait for new coronaviruses to emerge,” explained senior author Mark Howarth, professor at the University of Cambridge. “We know enough about coronaviruses, and different immune responses to them, that we can get going with building protective vaccines against unknown coronaviruses now.”
The team based their vaccine on a nanoparticle structure. They attached chains of different viral antigens to the nanoparticle using a novel protein superglue. They then tested the vaccine in mice and found that it raised a broad immune response, even in mice that were pre-immunized with SARS-CoV-2.
Their vaccine has a simpler design compared to other broadly protective vaccines currently in development. The team hopes the simplicity combined with efficacy in preclinical studies will push the vaccine into clinical trials. In the future, their exciting technology may be used in vaccine development for many other health challenges.