Summary: Scientists have announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. When tested in mice, the vaccine — delivered through a fingertip-sized patch — produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The paper appeared today in EBioMedicine<\/em>, which is published by The Lancet<\/em>,\n and is the first study to be published after critique from fellow \nscientists at outside institutions that describes a candidate vaccine \nfor COVID-19. The researchers were able to act quickly because they had \nalready laid the groundwork during earlier coronavirus epidemics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We had previous experience on SARS-CoV in 2003 and MERS-CoV in 2014.\n These two viruses, which are closely related to SARS-CoV-2, teach us \nthat a particular protein, called a spike protein, is important for \ninducing immunity against the virus. We knew exactly where to fight this\n new virus,” said co-senior author Andrea Gambotto, M.D., associate \nprofessor of surgery at the Pitt School of Medicine. “That’s why it’s \nimportant to fund vaccine research. You never know where the next \npandemic will come from.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Our ability to rapidly develop this vaccine was a result of \nscientists with expertise in diverse areas of research working together \nwith a common goal,” said co-senior author Louis Falo, M.D., Ph.D., \nprofessor and chair of dermatology at Pitt’s School of Medicine and \nUPMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared to the experimental mRNA vaccine candidate that just entered\n clinical trials, the vaccine described in this paper — which the \nauthors are calling PittCoVacc, short for Pittsburgh Coronavirus Vaccine\n — follows a more established approach, using lab-made pieces of viral \nprotein to build immunity. It’s the same way the current flu shots work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers also used a novel approach to deliver the drug, \ncalled a microneedle array, to increase potency. This array is a \nfingertip-sized patch of 400 tiny needles that delivers the spike \nprotein pieces into the skin, where the immune reaction is strongest. \nThe patch goes on like a Band-Aid and then the needles — which are made\n entirely of sugar and the protein pieces — simply dissolve into the \nskin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We developed this to build on the original scratch method used to \ndeliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but as a high-tech version \nthat is more efficient and reproducible patient to patient,” Falo said. \n“And it’s actually pretty painless — it feels kind of like Velcro.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system also is highly scalable. The protein pieces are \nmanufactured by a “cell factory” — layers upon layers of cultured cells\n engineered to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — that can be \nstacked further to multiply yield. Purifying the protein also can be \ndone at industrial scale. Mass-producing the microneedle array involves \nspinning down the protein-sugar mixture into a mold using a centrifuge. \nOnce manufactured, the vaccine can sit at room temperature until it’s \nneeded, eliminating the need for refrigeration during transport or \nstorage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “For most vaccines, you don’t need to address scalability to begin \nwith,” Gambotto said. “But when you try to develop a vaccine quickly \nagainst a pandemic that’s the first requirement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n When tested in mice, PittCoVacc generated a surge of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 within two weeks of the microneedle prick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those animals haven’t been tracked long term yet, but the researchers\n point out that mice who got their MERS-CoV vaccine produced a \nsufficient level of antibodies to neutralize the virus for at least a \nyear, and so far the antibody levels of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated \nanimals seem to be following the same trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Importantly, the SARS-CoV-2 microneedle vaccine maintains its potency\n even after being thoroughly sterilized with gamma radiation — a key \nstep toward making a product that’s suitable for use in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors are now in the process of applying for an investigational\n new drug approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in \nanticipation of starting a phase I human clinical trial in the next few \nmonths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Testing in patients would typically require at least a year and \nprobably longer,” Falo said. “This particular situation is different \nfrom anything we’ve ever seen, so we don’t know how long the clinical \ndevelopment process will take. Recently announced revisions to the \nnormal processes suggest we may be able to advance this faster.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional authors on the study are Eun Kim, Geza Erdos, Ph.D., \nShaohua Huang, Thomas Kenniston, Stephen Balmert, Ph.D., Cara Donahue \nCarey, Michael Epperly, Ph.D., William Klimstra, Ph.D., and Emrullah \nKorkmaz, Ph.D., all of Pitt; and Bart Haagmans, of Erasmus Medical \nCenter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funding for this study was provided by National Institute of Allergy \nand Infectious Diseases grant R21-AI114264, National Institute of \nArthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases grants R01-AR074285, \nR01-AR071277 and R01-AR068249, and National Cancer Institute grant \nT32-CA175294.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Story Source:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Materials<\/a> provided by University of Pittsburgh<\/strong><\/a>. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Date: April 2, 2020 Source 1: University of Pittsburgh Source 2: www.sciencedaily.com Summary: Scientists have announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. When tested in mice, the vaccine — delivered through a fingertip-sized patch — produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.potentialloops.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/chemical-fertilizer-testing-500x500-1.jpg\")
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists today announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. When tested in mice, the vaccine, delivered through a fingertip-sized patch, produces antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be sufficient for neutralizing the virus. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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