2023-09-18 14:31:00
An international team has just developed a vaccine that has the same effectiveness on the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19. This would make it possible to consider vaccines whose protection does not diminish with the appearance of new strains.
A group made up of Anses and the company Osivax in France, the United Kingdom Health Safety Agency (UKHSA), and the Vaccine Formulation Institute in Switzerland has managed to develop a vaccine which, unlike current injections, appears as effective once morest the original strain of Covid-19 as once morest the Delta and Omicron variants. A positive result observed for the moment on golden hamsters. To be confirmed in humans.
Why such efficiency?
“The versatility of the vaccine is explained by its design: it targets the nucleocapsid (N) protein of the virus and not the Spike (S) protein, present on the envelope of the virus,” explains Elodie Monchâtre-Leroy, director of the laboratory. Anses de la Rage and wildlife, located in Nancy. “The latter, more classically used to quickly develop a vaccine, has a disadvantage: it changes from one variant to another. The N protein is conserved between the variants.”
Present inside the virus, the nucleocapsid protein is produced in large quantities when it replicates. Its recognition by cells of the immune system eliminates infected cells and prevents the virus from multiplying.
But the other interest of this work lies in the fact that this protein is common to sarbecoviruses, the subgenus to which the coronaviruses responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome such as SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 belong. This would make it possible to consider using this vaccine beyond Covid-19. “We are in fact not safe from another strain emerging in the coming years,” concludes the scientist.
To note : A phase 1 clinical trial on humans is planned by Osivax for the year 2024, as well as preclinical trials on other strains of Coronavirus.
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