Recipe for even more powerful vaccines against COVID-19 found
Scientists have found a recipe for even more effective, powerful vaccines against the coronavirus and its rapidly emerging variants based on the way human cells activate the immune system in response to COVID-19 infection. Findings of the new study—published in the journal Cell—suggest current vaccines might lack some important bits of viral material capable of triggering a holistic immune response in the human body.
Here's what researchers noted about the new study
Researchers from Boston University and the Broad Institute of Harvard University noted this study is the first real look at exactly what types of red flags the body uses to enlist the help of T cells sent by the immune system to destroy infected cells.
Activating T cells can increase immunity against coronavirus, its variants
Until now, COVID-19 vaccines have been focused on activating a different type of immune cells, called B cells, which are responsible for creating antibodies. However, the researchers noted that developing vaccines to activate the other arm of the immune system — the T cells — could dramatically increase immunity against coronavirus, and more importantly, its variants.
Researchers hoped to identify fragments of SARS-CoV-2 activating T cells
The researchers performed experiments on human cells infected with coronavirus, isolating and identifying those missing pieces of SARS-CoV-2 proteins inside the lab. The team, including computational geneticists Pardis Sabeti and Shira Weingarten-Gabbay, hoped to identify fragments of SARS-CoV-2 that activate the immune system's T cells.
Scientists earlier discovered 29 proteins of SARS-CoV-2 in infected cells
From the start of the COVID pandemic, scientists have known the identity of 29 proteins produced by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in infected cells — the viral fragments that now make up the spike protein in some coronavirus vaccines, such as the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson preventives. Spike protein helps the virus to enter and infect the human cells.
Function of 23 proteins inside virus's genetic sequence still unknown
Later, scientists discovered another 23 proteins hidden inside the virus's genetic sequence. However, the function of these additional proteins has been a mystery until now. The latest findings reveal that 25% of the viral protein fragments that trigger the human immune system to attack a virus come from these hidden viral proteins.
Our discoveries can assist in development of new vaccines: Sabeti
"It is quite remarkable that such a strong immune signature of the virus is coming from regions (of the virus's genetic sequence) that we were blind to," said Weingarten-Gabby, the paper's lead author. "Our discovery can assist in the development of new vaccines that will mimic more accurately the response of our immune system to the virus," Sabeti said.
T cells memorizes virus's flags for faster, stronger attack: Researchers
"T cells not only destroy infected cells but also memorize the virus's flags so that they can launch an attack, stronger and faster, the next time the same or a different variant of the virus appears," the researchers said. That, they said, is a crucial advantage, because the coronavirus appears to delay the cell's ability to call in immune help.
New virus recipe can be a game-changer against variants
The researchers said a new vaccine recipe—incorporating some of the newly discovered internal proteins making up the SARS-CoV-2 virus—would be effective in stimulating an immune response capable of tackling the newly emerging coronavirus variants. Given the speed with which these variants continue to appear around the world, a vaccine that can provide protection against all of them would be a game-changer, they added.
