“We began this work last spring with the understanding that, like all viruses, mutations would occur in the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19,” said senior author Barton F. Haynes, M.D., director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI).
The cross-neutralizing antibodies attack the weaker part of coronavirus, a receptor-binding domain present in their spike by vaccine nanoparticle, which blocks the virus entry into body.
The nanoparticle is combined with an alum adjuvant developed by 3M and the Infectious Disease Research Institute like toll-like receptor 7 and 8 agonist called 3M-052, improve the body’s defence mechanism.
“Basically, what we’ve done is take multiple copies of a small part of the coronavirus to make the body’s immune system respond to it in a heightened way,” Saunders said.
The results of the study show that nanoparticle vaccine blocked COVID-19 infection by 100% in monkeys and elicited significantly higher neutralizing levels in the animals than current vaccine platforms or natural infection in humans.
The quest for a new approach to combat the COVID pandemic in the future can be satisfied by these newly developed vaccines.
Source: Eurekalert
