Science: Developed a vaccine strategy using artificial proteins

May 23, 2020 /
BioON/--- vaccine is one of the most effective interventions to prevent the spread of infectious diseasesVaccines trigger the immune system to produce antibodies that protect the body from infectionHowever, we still lack effective vaccines against many important pathogens, such as influenza viruses or dengue virusesIn a new study, Professor Bruno Correia of the Institute of Protein Design and Immune Engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, and his team have now developed a strategy for designing artificial proteins that can precisely guide the body's immune system in producing antibodiesThe findings, published in the Journal of Science on May 15, 2020, are titled "De novo protein design ss the precise induction of RSV-neutraling antibodies"images from EPFL"When a vaccine doesn't work well, we tend to think that this is because the antibodies produced are not protective, " says Correia, aThis is usually because our immune system just makes the wrong type of antibody"
build proteins like LEGO bricks
Correia team built artificial proteins using computational methods"They don't exist in nature," said Che Yang, co-author of the paper"We developed a protein design algorithm called TopoBuilder," said Co-author Fabian SesterhenIt lets you build proteins almost like splicing Lego bricks togetherAssembling artificial proteins with new features is absolutely fascinating"
vaccine-deficient disease
Correia's team focused on designing proteins from scratch that can produce respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines RSV causes severe lung infections and is one of the leading causes of hospitalization for infants and the elderly "Despite decades of research, there is no vaccine or cure for respiratory syncytial virus to this day," Correia said "
these artificial proteins are built in the lab and then tested in animal models, triggering the immune system to produce specific antibodies against RSV weaknesses "Our findings are encouraging because they show that one day we will be able to induce the immune system to produce these specific antibodies to more effectively design vaccines for specific viruses," Correia said We still have a lot of research to do to make the vaccine we develop more effective---'s first step in that direction "
method of building proteins from scratch goes far beyond immunology --- they can also be used in various branches of biotechnology to expand the structure and function of natural proteins "We can now use protein design tools to build proteins for other biomedical applications, such as protein-based drugs or functional biomaterials," Sesterhen concludes (Bio Valley Bioon.com) Reference: 1.Fabian Sesterhenn et al.
De novo protein design design design siheart induction of RSV-neutraling antibodies Science, 2020, doi:10.1126/science.aay5051.
2 Designing vaccines from the https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-vaccines-artificial-proteins.html