Single Vaccine for Cold and COVID-19

A precise area of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein serves as a promising target for a pan-coronavirus vaccine that offers protection against new virus variants, and common colds, and helps prepare for future pandemics, according to a team of scientists in the UK.

Developing a vaccine that protects a number of different coronaviruses is a challenge because this family of viruses has many key differences, frequently mutates, and generally induces incomplete protection against reinfection.

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‘Scientists found that after vaccinating mice with SARS-CoV-2 S2, the mice created antibodies that were able to neutralize several other animal and human coronaviruses, including the seasonal 'common cold' coronavirus HCoV-OC43, the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, the D614G mutant that dominated in the first wave, Alpha, Beta, Delta, the original Omicron, and two bat coronaviruses.’

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This is why people can suffer repeatedly from common colds, and also be infected multiple times with different variants of SARS-CoV-2.

A pan-coronavirus vaccine would need to trigger antibodies that recognize and neutralize a range of coronaviruses, stopping the virus from entering host cells and replicating, said the team at the Francis Crick Institute.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

In their study, published in Science Translational Medicine, they investigated whether antibodies that target the S2 subunit of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein also neutralize other coronaviruses. This specific area of the spike protein tethers it to the virus membrane and allows the virus to fuse with the membrane of a host cell.

"The S2 area of the spike protein is a promising target for a potential pan-coronavirus vaccine because this area is much more similar across different coronaviruses than the S1 area. It is less subject to mutations, and so a vaccine targeted at this area should be more robust," Kevin Ng, a doctoral student in the Retroviral Immunology Laboratory Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.

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The S2 area of the spike protein has, until recently, been overlooked as providing a basis for vaccination. This is because certain critical targets in the S2 area are only revealed after the virus has bound to a cell, a process mediated by the S1 area.

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As a result, there may be a narrower window of opportunity for S2 antibodies to neutralize the virus than for antibodies that target the S1 area.

"There’s a lot of research still to do as we continue to test S2 antibodies against different coronaviruses and look for the most appropriate route to design and test a potential vaccine," said George Kassiotis, corresponding author and principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

Source-IANS

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