[사진: 셔터스톡]
[디지털투데이 AI리포터] After the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of vaccines is increasing. Meanwhile, online media Gigene reported on the 9th (local time) that a research team from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom has developed a vaccine that can respond to unknown coronaviruses that may occur in the future.
The new vaccine is a “nano-cage vaccine” that binds tiny nanoparticles to four types of coronavirus proteins to boost the body’s defenses when the virus invades. This trains the body’s immune system by targeting proteins common to different types of coronaviruses, so it can be effective even against unknown coronaviruses.
The research team administered this vaccine to mice and then infected them with the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV-1), which caused the SARS infection to spread. As a result, a broad immune response to SARS was confirmed even though SARS-CoV-1-derived proteins were not added to the vaccine nanoparticles. Professor Laurie Hills from the University of Cambridge explained: “The development of the nanocage vaccine is a step towards the greater goal of creating a vaccine before a pandemic even occurs.”
If the safety of the nano-cage vaccine is proven in the future, it could be used as a booster vaccine for COVID-19. “We are working with our industry partners to scale up our development process,” Dr. Hills said.
#Developing #vaccine #prevent #pandemic.. #Preventing #pandemics #early
