Research shows that a coronavirus vaccine can prevent other coronaviruses

"Before our research, what we didn't know was if you were exposed to one coronavirus, you could cross-protect between other coronaviruses," said Assistant Professor of Microbial Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

The results of this study were recently published in the "Journal of Clinical Research"

The breakdown of the coronavirus family

The three main families of coronaviruses that cause human diseases are the SABIC virus, including the SARS-cov -1 strain that caused the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, and the SARS-cov-that caused COVID-19.

Vaccines exhibit cross-protective immunity

The study found that antibodies produced by human plasma vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 have cross-reactivity (providing protection) against SARS-CoV-1 and common cold coronavirus (OC43)

Studies have found that mice exposed to the common cold coronavirus (HCoV-OC43, which is different from the SARS strain) after being vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine have partial protection against the common cold, but the intensity of this protection is much lower

Penaloza-MacMaster said: "As long as the coronavirus is more than 70% related, the mice will be protected

Will there be a universal coronavirus vaccine?

The study's authors say, given the differences in each of the coronavirus family, the answer is "probably no"

"Our research helps us re-evaluate the concept of a universal coronavirus vaccine," Penaloza-MacMaster said

In this study, Penaloza-MacMaster collaborated with Northwestern Medical Doctor Igor Koralnik (Director of Feinberg Neuroinfectious Diseases and Global Neurology) and Lavanya Visvabharathy (Postdoctoral Assistant of Feinberg Neurology Research) to evaluate the acceptance of SARS-CoV- 2 Immune response of people receiving vaccines and COVID-19 patients admitted to Northwest Memorial Hospital

"We found that these people developed an antibody response that neutralized HCoV-OC43, a common cold coronavirus," Penaloza-MacMaster said

Years of HIV research led the team to this discovery

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Penaloza-MacMaster had been researching HIV vaccines for ten years

Penaloza-MacMaster said: "One of the reasons we don't have an effective HIV vaccine is that it is difficult to develop cross-reactive antibodies

The first authors of this study are Tanushree Dangi and Nicole Palacio from Penaloza-McMaster Laboratories

Journal Reference :

1. Tanushree Dangi, Nicole Palacio, Sarah Sanchez, Mincheol Park, Jake Class, Lavanya Visvabharathy, Thomas Ciucci, Igor J.