A new "proactive" vaccine for undiscovered coronaviruses

A team of scientists has created a new vaccine for multiple coronaviruses, even those that have not yet been discovered.

The project, led by scientists from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology, aims to launch a "pre-emptive" vaccine before the next potential pandemic emerges.

The experimental dose, tested on mice only, trains the immune system to recognize parts of many different coronaviruses, which include “Covid,” “SARS,” and “MERS,” especially since current vaccines train the immune system to target one specific type of virus. Viruses.

The vaccine works using a small ball of proteins called a “quadruple nanocage,” and then scientists used what they called “protein superglue” to bind antigens, which are substances that trigger an immune response in the body, enabling it to fight pathogens.

The resulting vaccine helps the immune system recognize parts of 8 coronaviruses, including some types that are currently only found in wild bats, but could (in theory) be transmitted to humans in the future.

Tests showed that the vaccine helped mice fight SARS-Cov-1, the pathogen that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, although the vaccine does not include any samples of that virus specifically.

Rory Hills, a graduate researcher in pharmacology at the University of Cambridge, and first author of the study, said: “Our focus is on creating a vaccine that will protect us from the next coronavirus pandemic. We have created a vaccine that provides protection against a wide range of different coronaviruses.”

Professor Mark Howarth, one of the study's senior authors, said the results could be a starting point for manufacturing new vaccines faster than those created during the darkest days of the "Covid" pandemic.

Scientists hope that clinical trials of the new vaccine will begin by early 2025.

The study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.