UK Scientists Trial First Needle-Free Air-Powered COVID-19 Vaccine

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Scientists at the University of Cambridge on Tuesday began a clinical trial of a needle-free air-powered vaccine, which is expected to help combat future variants of COVID-19.

Developed by Professor Jonathan Heeney at the University of Cambridge and spin-out company DIOSynVax, the new DIOSvax technology is dubbed a next-generation coronavirus vaccine administered through a blast of air that delivers the dose into the skin.

It offers a possible future alternative to people who fear needle-based jabs and, if successful, it could be scaled up and manufactured as a powder to boost global vaccination efforts, particularly in low and middle-income countries.

"The response of the scientific and medical communities to the development and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines has been incredible, but as new variants emerge and immunity begins to wane we need newer technologies," said Heeney.

"It's vital that we continue to develop new generation vaccine candidates ready to help keep us safe from the next virus threats. Our vaccine is innovative, both in terms of the way it primes the immune system to respond with a broader protective response to coronaviruses, and how it is delivered. Crucially, it is the first step towards a universal coronavirus vaccine we are developing, protecting us not just from COVID-19 variants but from future coronaviruses," he said.

The first volunteer will receive the vaccine this week at the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility.

The COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 virus uses "spike" proteins on its surface to gain entry to host cells. These proteins bind to ACE2, a protein receptor on the surface of cells in our airways, allowing the virus to release its genetic material into the host cell. The virus hijacks the host cell's machinery to allow itself to replicate and spread.

Vaccines inform our bodies about what dangerous infections look like and how to respond to them. This is much safer than becoming infected with the live virus, because it avoids the life-threatening effects the whole virus can have.

Immunisation arms our immune system to look out for and block viruses, or destroy cells that carry the spike protein, protecting us from COVID-19 disease. Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 is constantly mutating and the virus spike protein itself is changing. This raises the prospect of "vaccine escape", where changes to the spike protein mean the immune system is no longer able to recognise it.

To get around this problem, the Cambridge University team searched for new types of antigens - key regions of the virus - that are the same across coronaviruses that occur in nature, including in animals that carry them, such as bats.

While most COVID-19 vaccines use the sequence of the RNA for the virus spike protein from the first isolated samples of the COVID-19 virus in January 2020, the new DIOSvax technology uses predictive methods to encode antigens like the spike protein that mimic the wider family of coronavirus antigens, thus giving wider protection.

Professor Heeney explained: "DIOS-CoVax vaccines target elements of the virus structure that are common to all known 'beta-coronaviruses' - those coronaviruses that are the greatest disease threats to humans. These are structures that are vitally important to the virus life cycle, which means we can be confident that they are unlikely to change in the future.

"These next-generation DIOSvax vaccines should protect us against variants we've seen so far - alpha, beta, delta variants, for example - and hopefully future-proof us against emerging variants and potential coronavirus pandemics."

Funding for the needle-free vaccine and trial was provided by Innovate UK, part of the UK Research and Innovation network.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.