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Victoria Bela

Researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China have developed a nanovaccine candidate that could offer universal protection against all major Covid-19 variants – as well as protect against future coronavirus mutants with pandemic potential.
The institute – which has engaged in bat coronavirus research for years – has in recent years been embroiled in controversy, and scrutiny from countries including the United States, over accusations that the Covid-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak at its facilities.
But with consistent support from the Chinese government, researchers at the institute have continued their studies into Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Although existing vaccines have been used to help prevent the spread of Sars-CoV-2 and reduce mortality, none offer broad or universal protection against all forms of the virus, according to the team behind the nanovaccine.
The team discovered that combining coronavirus epitopes – parts of antigens that trigger the immune system – with the blood protein ferritin could produce an intranasal nanoparticle vaccine that protected against multiple variants of Sars-CoV-2.
These included Delta, Omicron and the WIV04, an early strain isolated from a patient in Wuhan, where the pandemic was first reported.


The nanoparticle vaccine, which was tested on mice, also showed the potential to provide long-lasting and broad protection against other types of coronavirus. This could prove effective in preventing the infection and spread of future mutant variants.
“The ongoing and future pandemics caused by Sars-CoV-2 variants and mutations underscore the need for effective vaccines that provide broad-spectrum protection,” the researchers wrote in a paper published in peer-reviewed journal ACS Nano in June.
“Our constructed nanovaccine targeting the conserved epitopes of the pre-existing neutralising antibodies can serve as a promising candidate for a universal Sars-CoV-2 vaccine.”
There is still no universal scientific consensus on the origins of Sars-CoV-2. Scientists have published research over the last few years both in support of the lab-leak theory and others, including “zoonotic spillover” – or a direct cross-species spread from animal to human.
Since 2020, researchers from the Wuhan institute have been involved in over 230 research papers relating to Sars-CoV-2, including six published so far this year, according to a list updated by the institute.
Although the global risk levels from the Covid-19 virus are nowhere near those in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, the coronavirus threat is not behind us.
Two of the major outbreaks of this century have been caused by a similar type of coronavirus – the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak.
Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), also caused by a coronavirus, has sickened several thousand people since it was first identified in 2012.
Researchers warn that the continuous mutation of the coronavirus will continue to give rise to new mutant strains, some of which could prove infectious enough to cause future outbreaks and even another global pandemic.


Scientists are also studying the long-term consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the impact the virus may have on brain development.
With the threat of future diseases along with the ongoing impact of new Covid-19 variants, the development of broad-spectrum vaccines is increasingly necessary.
Nanovaccines are an “excellent vaccine platform” that are more easily produced than traditional vaccines like live attenuated or inactivated vaccines, but still elicit robust and long-lasting immune responses, the team wrote in their paper.
Covid-19 vaccines typically induce the release of neutralising antibodies against the spike glycoprotein (S) or the receptor binding domain, which allows the virus to “dock” with cells.
Existing nanovaccine candidates mainly target S1, a subunit of the spike glycoprotein, rather than the S2 subunit, as it is “less accessible for immune recognition,” the researchers said.
The S2 subunit is more homologous and conserved across coronaviruses, indicating that it could offer a better target for broad spectrum vaccines.
Previous research has found pre-existing antibodies in cells that recognise coronavirus antigens, which primarily target S2 and can impede the entry of Sars-CoV-2 into cells.
To produce their nanovaccine, the team combined their epitopes – short peptides with conserved sequences in S2 – with ferritin derived from the Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which was expressed in Escherichia coli cells where it self-assembles into nanoparticles.
The nanoparticles are then separated and concentrated from the bacterial cells to obtain the vaccine, which can be delivered intranasally instead of through injection.
Mice given the nanovaccine, followed by two boosters within 42 days, produced higher levels of the antibody Immunoglobulin G than the controls, which persisted even after six months.
When mice given the nanoparticles were infected with different variants, including Omicron and Delta, they showed improved resistance to virus-induced lung symptoms.
The antibodies induced by the vaccine can bind to epitopes from different coronavirus strains – including Mers, bird flu and swine flu coronaviruses – exhibiting broad neutralising activities, according to the researchers.
The nanoparticle vaccine “has the potential protective capability as a broad spectrum vaccine against various [coronaviruses]”, the team wrote.
The team previously showed that following a similar strategy to produce a nanovaccine could offer protection against the mosquito-borne Zika virus.


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‘Broad spectrum’ nanovaccine can target multiple coronaviruses, says team at institute once in spotlight over Covid lab leak theory


‘Broad spectrum’ nanovaccine can target multiple coronaviruses, says team at institute once in spotlight over Covid lab leak theory.


China’s Wuhan virology institute creates nasal Covid-19 vaccine for ‘future pandemics’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘Broad spectrum’ nanovaccine can target multiple coronaviruses, says team at institute once in spotlight over Covid lab leak theory

‘Broad spectrum’ nanovaccine can target multiple coronaviruses, says team at institute once in spotlight over Covid lab leak theory