Messenger RNA vaccines helped control the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, a new strategy that uses the same technique, but by combining two viral proteins, can protect mice more effectively against variants like omicron.
The new strategy, published by Science Translational Medicine, incorporates both the SARS-Cov-2 protein S – the one used by the virus to enter cells – which is the main target of clinically approved vaccines, and a viral nucleoprotein that tends to mutate less. among the variants.
The new vaccine design could help generate broad immunity against omicron and future variants of the virus, which could partially evade antibodies generated by first-generation mRNA vaccines, such as those from Moderna and Pfizer.
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The new vaccine design can protect against omicron more effectively
The team, led by the University of Texas (USA), tested this new approach against the mRNA vaccine in mice. One group of hamsters was vaccinated with a preparation that contained only protein S, and the other with both that and nucleoprotein, before being exposed to the delta and omicron variants.
The one with both compounds controlled viral counts in the lungs and upper airways of hamsters more effectively than the S-protein vaccine alone.
The lead author of the research, Haitao Hu, indicated that because there are large sectors of the world population that are already vaccinated or have been infected, “it is important” to evaluate the new approach of combination vaccines as booster doses in animal models or in people. with pre-existing immunity.
With information from EFE.
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