4/15/2023 0 Comments Spike proteinThe researchers created an atomic-level computational model of the spike protein and ran multiple simulations to examine the protein’s dynamics and how the cell’s modifications affected those dynamics. When the coronavirus causing COVID-19 infects human cells, the cell’s protein-processing machinery makes modifications to the spike protein that render it more flexible and mobile, which could increase its ability to infect other cells and to evade antibodies, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found. Having a few options could help us roll out some level of protection to all people in every country as soon as possible.CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Also, we will need to reach everyone in the world, so we will need a lot of vaccine. It might be that one works better in a particular group, such as older people or children, since their immune systems are a bit different. However, so far there is no real indication that one approach will be better than the others.Īnyway, it’s probably a good idea to try to make more than one type. There are some recombinant vaccines on the market already – for example ones for human papillomavirus (HPV) – so that technology is a bit further advanced. While a number of mRNA vaccines have been produced against cancers and infectious agents, so far none are in routine use. If the initial course of a COVID-19 subunit vaccine was two doses, six months apart, that could be quite difficult to achieve for everyone in the world. For instance, the hepatitis B vaccine needs three doses over six months to be effective, and many people require a booster within five years. This is because the protein doesn’t last in the body. The drawback is this type of vaccine requires repeat doses within a few months of each other, to ensure the body really does react to it. This should also be safe, and if it turned out that the protein wasn’t the correct target, it ought to be relatively easy to change. This would be similar to the vaccines against hepatitis B and shingles, which are known as subunit vaccines. Its vaccine may turn out to be the best in the end, but it won’t be ready until at least mid-2021.Īnother plan would be to make and deliver a preparation containing simply the whole spike protein, rather than asking the body to create it. The European company Valneva is, however, using this approach. We don’t want to wait that long to make a COVID-19 vaccine – particularly if it then doesn’t work. It takes six months to prepare a batch of influenza vaccine, because the virus has to be grown in the laboratory and then treated thoroughly to make sure it’s completely dead and safe to inject. The main problem with this approach is time. The oldest method for developing flu vaccines involves growing viruses in eggs, which takes time. Since we don’t know for sure which part of SARS-CoV-2 we should be concentrating on, perhaps using the whole dead virus and allowing the body to respond as it sees fit might be better? It doesn’t grow inside the human cells, but the body can recognise and respond to it. The original form of the influenza vaccine, developed in the 1960s and still in widespread use, instead delivers the whole virus (which has been killed). This sounds good in theory, but in practice the use of viral genetic code is a very new way of making vaccines. Both vaccines are being tested to confirm this happens. It’s hoped that this combination will stop the actual coronavirus from using its spike proteins to latch onto cells and enter them. In both cases, preliminary studies indicate that spike proteins get produced, and that this stimulates a robust immune response, including both antibodies and immune cells called T cells. When this altered (recombinant) virus (called ChAdOx1) infects human cells, the cell reads its genetic material and ends up making the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The Oxford vaccine instead puts the code for the spike protein into the genetic information of a completely different virus that’s harmless to humans. The idea is to trick human cells into using this modified mRNA, so that they then make spike proteins just as they would substances for their own purposes. This is a molecule that the cell uses to deliver instructions when building proteins. The Moderna vaccine places the blueprint for the spike protein in something called messenger RNA (mRNA). The rest of the code for the virus isn’t included, which should make the vaccine safer – it can’t lead to the cell reproducing the whole virus. Once inside a cell, the virus reveals its genetic material, which is like a set of instructions for making copies of the virus – which the cell then does.įor these vaccines, the researchers have selected just the bit of genetic material that signals how to make the spike protein.
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