Recombinant vaccine
MSU biologists have developed a vaccine against anthrax based on the tobacco mosaic virus
Employees of the Virology Department of the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University have developed a vaccine against anthrax based on the tobacco mosaic virus. The development has already been tested on animals and has shown its effectiveness. The vaccine created at Moscow State University also turned out to be economically more profitable than existing analogues. The research results are partially published in the journal Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (Ryabchevskaya et al., Two approaches for the stabilization of Bacillus anthracis recombinant protective antigen).
The history of virology began with the tobacco mosaic virus. The Russian scientist D.I. Ivanovsky, using his example, showed the existence of infectious agents whose sizes are smaller than bacteria. He called them viruses. Since then, the tobacco mosaic virus has remained one of the main model objects of virology.
The staff of the Department of Virology of the Faculty of Biology of Lomonosov Moscow State University found that during the heat treatment of the rod-shaped tobacco mosaic virus, its structural restructuring occurs, and spherical protein particles are formed. These particles have properties that allow them to be used as a universal platform for the creation of recombinant vaccines, including anthrax.
Currently existing vaccines against this disease are based on weakened pathogen bacteria, these are the so-called attenuated vaccines. Their effectiveness decreases significantly when they are used simultaneously with antibiotics necessary to combat outbreaks of the disease. Recombinant vaccines based on individual parts of infectious agents from anthrax have not yet been created. A protein ("protective antigen", PA) is usually used as a target, which is unstable and degrades rapidly when it is obtained in its pure form. Virologists of Moscow State University managed to solve these problems.
"Thanks to the use of two approaches — directed mutagenesis of the protective antigen protein gene and its interaction with the surface of spherical particles obtained from tobacco mosaic viruses — the protein does not degrade. Moreover, the presence of spherical particles in the candidate vaccine preparation makes it possible not to use additional immunostimulants that are present in other vaccines," explained Olga Karpova, one of the authors of the study, Head of the Virology Department of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, noting that the use of this technology significantly reduces the price of the vaccine preparation.
The drug obtained at Moscow State University showed high efficiency in animal experiments, which were conducted jointly with scientists of the State Scientific Center for Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology of Rospotrebnadzor. Vaccinated and then infected with anthrax guinea pigs survived — unlike unvaccinated ones.
The use of plant viruses to create recombinant vaccines against human infections is one of the most modern and promising approaches in world science, in the development of which Russia, namely MSU, occupies a leading position. In particular, with the support of R-Pharm, preclinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed at Moscow State University on the same principle are currently underway.
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