Vaccine from GM tobacco
The coronavirus vaccine based on tobacco proteins has passed the first phase of testing
Anastasia Kuznetsova, N+1
The new plant-derived coronavirus vaccine has passed the first phase of clinical trials. After the first dose, antibodies were detected in 60 percent of the participants, and after the second phase – in 91 percent. The vaccine was also found to have no serious side effects. The study was published in Nature Medicine (Ward et al., Phase 1 randomized trial of a plant-derived virus-like particle vaccine for COVID-19).
In the last year, the development of coronavirus vaccines has turned into a real race. Scientists have developed different types of vaccines. Among them are vector vaccines that use a safe virus to deliver specific coronavirus subelements into the body, generating an immune response. This type of vaccine includes Sputnik V and Vaxzevria. EpiVacCorona, for example, uses a different principle – in it, the peptide antigens of the coronavirus are connected to a carrier protein. Finally, Pfizer went the third way and created an mRNA vaccine that uses matrix RNA encoding the covid spike protein to develop immunity.
Most vaccines are developed using microorganisms, but the creation of vaccines of plant origin is a very promising occupation. It is cheap and relatively easy to produce such vaccines, and they are also convenient to transport (they can be stored at a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius). Vaccines against papillomavirus, hepatitis B, measles have already been developed on the basis of proteins from plants, and now a coronavirus vaccine has been added to them.
Canadian scientists led by Brian Ward (Brian J Ward) from McGill University has created a vaccine based on virus-like particles resembling fragments of the coronavirus envelope (glycoproteins). Tobacco is used for the production of this vaccine, which has been taught to produce such particles by genetic engineering methods. The vaccine was tested on 180 volunteers aged 18-49 years. Patients were administered two doses intramuscularly with an interval of 21 days. The number of antibodies was measured three times: before the start of the study, before the second dose and 21 days after the second dose. Also, for comparison, blood samples were taken from people who had been ill with covid (the interval between the onset of symptoms and blood collection was 27-105 days).
It turned out that after the first dose, antibodies were detected in 60 percent of participants (p<0.0001), and after the second dose in 91 percent (p<0.0001). After the second dose, the antibody titer in the study participants was ten times higher than in the serum of patients who had undergone coronavirus. In general, no serious side effects were observed after the introduction of the vaccine.
The researchers concluded that the vaccine showed its safety and a good immune response. Soon they plan to publish the results of the second and third phases of the study.
The absence of side effects plays an important role in choosing a vaccine. For example, a rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine made it necessary to use it with caution in people under 60 years of age.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru