A new vaccine against all variants of SarsCov2 could arrive in the coming months. The drug is currently being tested in mice, and the results of a preclinical study from the Higher Institute of Health bode well.
Just published in the journal Viruses, the study showed that the vaccine generates an effective and long-lasting immune response in mice infected with the coronavirus.
The method, explains the ISS, is based on a new strategy that has selected as a target the N protein, a protein that, unlike the more famous 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 new mechanism is based on the engineering of nanovesicles naturally released by muscle cells and could overcome the limitations of current vaccines on the decay of antibodies after a certain amount of time and the loss of efficacy against emerging variants.
In fact, the group of researchers has shown that, when the extracellular vesicles are loaded with the N protein, an immune reaction can be generated in mice such as to induce substantial protection from infection with very high viral loads.
Furthermore, the developed technique is able to generate an immune memory in the respiratory tract, an essential condition for a lasting effect.
Further studies already planned will establish other parameters such as vaccine safety and tolerability. Essential parameters in view of further clinical studies in humans that can definitively confirm the effectiveness of the discovery.
(Unioneonline / L)
