A groundbreaking new vaccine approach holds promise in combating future coronavirus pandemics by generating antibodies that recognize regions of the virus’s receptor-binding proteins across all strains.
A New Vaccine Approach Could Help Combat Future Coronavirus Pandemics
The development of a nanoparticle-based vaccine has shown promise in combating the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other sarbecoviruses, which could potentially jump to humans from animals. This new approach aims to generate antibodies that recognize regions of the virus’s receptor-binding proteins (RBDs) that tend to remain unchanged across all strains.
Understanding the Threat of Sarbecoviruses
Sarbecoviruses are a subgenus of coronaviruses that include the virus that led to the original SARS outbreak in the early 2000s. These viruses currently circulate in bats and other mammals, but may also hold the potential to spread to humans in the future. The emergence of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 has highlighted the need for a more effective vaccine.
The New Vaccine Approach
Researchers at MIT and Caltech have developed a vaccine that attaches up to eight different versions of RBDs to nanoparticles. This approach aims to stimulate the production of antibodies that recognize regions of RBDs that are shared across viral strains, making it more difficult for viruses to evolve to escape vaccine-induced antibodies.
How It Works
The new vaccine works by presenting all eight different RBD proteins on each nanoparticle, which makes it unlikely that two identical RBDs will end up next to each other. This allows the B cell receptor to recognize the conserved regions of the RBD, leading to a more cross-reactive antibody response.
Studies and Results
The researchers conducted studies in animals and found that the new vaccine produced strong antibody responses against diverse strains of SARS-CoV-2 and other sarbecoviruses. The vaccine also protected against challenges by both SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV (original SARS).
Future Directions
The researchers plan to work on redesigning the vaccines so that they could be delivered as mRNA, which would make them easier to manufacture. They also hope to move the mosaic-7COM vaccine into clinical trials.
Funding and Collaboration
The research was funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Leap, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the Caltech Merkin Institute for Translational Research. The researchers also collaborated with Chakraborty’s lab at MIT to pursue computational strategies that could allow them to identify RBD combinations that would generate even better antibody responses against a wider variety of sarbecoviruses.
Conclusion
The development of a nanoparticle-based vaccine that targets regions of the RBDs that are shared across viral strains holds promise in combating future coronavirus pandemics. Further research and clinical trials will be necessary to determine the efficacy and safety of this approach, but it represents an important step forward in the fight against infectious diseases.
