Leiden joins forces to develop improved coronavirus vaccines
A unique public-private consortium (CoVax2) has been initiated aiming to develop improved vaccines against the novel beta-coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), causing the pandemic COVID-19, and other human coronaviruses.
Within a few months, a new infectious disease, named COVID-19, has become a severe pandemic with more than 3 million confirmed cases and more than 200.000 deaths. These numbers are still inclining leading to a worldwide increase in morbidity and mortality, with an unprecedented impact on social and economic burdens. Clearly, there is an unmet need for treating those affected with SARS-CoV-2, and to protect people from getting infected and further spreading the virus. In this respect, a vaccine against COVID-19 is urgently needed as it can protect individuals and indirectly curb viral spread through induction of herd immunity.
International companies/institutes are developing vaccines specific for the Spike viral protein, with the promise to induce neutralising antibodies. The Spike protein is however prone to mutations, and coronaviruses may actually take advantage of antibodies to enhance infection of host cells. Antibody-inducing vaccines based on the Spike protein may thus become less effective over time.
The CoVax2 approach distinguishes itself from other initiatives through combining two strong vaccine platforms and by including corona antigens that elicit both antibody and cellular immune responses and are conserved between virus strains. Essentially, this is build on a concerted effort comprising experts in immunology and corona virology, and on expertise in two synthetic vaccine platform technologies: DNA- and synthetic long peptide (SLP)-based vaccines.
The DNA/SLP-based vaccines, generated both neutralizing antibodies and long-lasting T-cell immunity, and were tested both in vitro and in animal models with live coronavirus. In addition, high-dimensional single-cell technologies were applied to discover correlates of protection. These efforts resulted in the development of a broadly applicable coronavirus vaccines in order to counteract current and potential future outbreaks.
On the first of August 2022, LUMC published an article about this project. Curious? You can read it here!
The potential economic impact of this research is significant. If successful, it would be the first time a vaccine has been shown to protect people from a pandemic virus by exclusively activating T cells—rather than by inducing the production of antibodies. Such a vaccine could offer long-lasting protection against viruses like SARS-CoV-2 by targeting parts of the virus that stay conserved, even as new variants emerge. This could reduce or even eliminate the need for repeated booster shots tailored to new variants.
The same approach could also be applied to develop vaccines against other dangerous viruses, making it a valuable breakthrough not just for public health, but also for reducing healthcare costs and increasing global preparedness.
Publications
Multiantigen pan-sarbecovirus DNA vaccines generate protective T cell immune responses
van Bergen J, Camps MG, Pardieck IN, Veerkamp D, Leung WY, Leijs AA, Myeni SK, Kikkert M, Arens R, Zondag GC, Ossendorp F.
JCI Insight. 2023 Nov 8;8(21):e172488. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.172488.
A third vaccination with a single T cell epitope confers protection in a murine model of SARS-CoV-2 infection
Pardieck IN, van der Sluis TC, van der Gracht ETI, Veerkamp DMB, Behr FM, van Duikeren S, Beyrend G, Rip J, Nadafi R, Beyranvand Nejad E, Mülling N, Brasem DJ, Camps MGM, Myeni SK, Bredenbeek PJ, Kikkert M, Kim Y, Cicin-Sain L, Abdelaal T, van Gisbergen KPJM, Franken KLMC, Drijfhout JW, Melief CJM, Zondag GCM, Ossendorp F, Arens R.
Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 8;13(1):3966. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31721-6.
