Triple Coronaviruses Vaccine Unveiled
Written by Shaveta Arora, Arushi Sharma
Duke Human Vaccine Institute scientists have made remarkable progress in developing a trivalent coronavirus vaccine, demonstrating its effectiveness in protecting mice from SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2.
Duke Human Vaccine Institute researchers have successfully developed a vaccine that protects against three highly dangerous coronaviruses in mice, demonstrating the potential of a universal coronavirus vaccine, as reported in Cell Reports.
"We are making important progress toward a broadly protective coronavirus vaccine," said senior author Kevin O. Saunders, Ph.D., associate director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. "These are pathogens that cause or have the potential to cause significant human infections and loss of life, and a single vaccine that provides protection could slow down or even prevent another pandemic."
Saunders and his team developed a trivalent vaccine using nanoparticles containing the receptor binding domain from each coronavirus. This domain, the virus's entry point into the body's cells, provides enough information for the immune system to build a strong defense against real coronaviruses.
In prior investigations involving mice and primates, the scientists demonstrated the effectiveness of an earlier version of the nanoparticle vaccine against various SARS-CoV-2 variants. Human trials are scheduled for the upcoming year for a modified version of the vaccine, containing immunogens tailored to various SARS-CoV-2 strains, including those that have prevailed since the initial outbreak in late 2019.
Recent research has expanded the vaccine to include SARS-related and MERS viruses, demonstrating that the vaccine candidate induces the production of inhibitory antibodies against all three harmful human coronavirus types through laboratory experiments and mouse studies.
Significantly, mice that had been vaccinated did not exhibit illness when exposed to either SARS-like or MERS-like viruses.
"This study demonstrates proof-of-concept that a single vaccine that protects against both MERS and SARS viruses is an achievable goal," Saunders said. "Given that one MERS and two SARS viruses have infected humans in the last two decades, the development of universal coronavirus vaccines is a global health priority."