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Research could help design next-generation COVID-19 and influenza vaccines
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WashU Medicine researchers have received a $12 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to identify factors responsible for long-lasting immunity to disease.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been awarded $12 million from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to study how vaccines elicit long-lasting immune responses. received a grant. This research could help design new vaccines that are more protective against respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed the development of an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in record time,” said Leo Loeb of Pathology and Immunology at WashU Medicine. Professor Dr. Ali Ellebedi said. “However, we have also seen its effectiveness wane over a period of months. Our research shows that designing a vaccine that induces durable immunity against rapidly mutating respiratory viruses. The purpose is to understand how to
Reduced immunity is not unique to COVID-19 vaccines. For 50 years, influenza vaccines have had to be updated annually. Antibodies that help eliminate influenza viruses mostly disappear within six months to a year after infection or vaccination, and viruses are adept at changing rapidly to evade immune defenses, meaning that the previous year’s vaccine It will be invalidated, Elbedi explained.
However, other vaccines maintain immunity for a long time or indefinitely. The smallpox vaccine provided strong protection that helped eradicate the virus, eliminating the need for routine immunizations. Vaccines against polio, chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella, among others, provide lifelong immunity. Some vaccines require periodic boosters to retrain the immune system how to respond to threats.
“Lifelong protection is the gold standard in vaccine development,” Elbedi said. “We have an opportunity to learn from the successes of developing vaccines that have stopped or even eliminated the spread of pathogens. We need to understand how it affects the immune system.”
Ellebedi will lead the newly funded study with co-principal investigators Michael S. Diamond, MD, Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine, and clinical director Rachel M. Presti, Professor of Medicine. are. As co-directors of WashU Medicine’s Center for Immunity against Vaccines and Microbial Pathogens, which was funded in part by Andrew M. Barsky and Jane M. Barsky, the trio is working to enable long-lasting immunity after vaccination. We have built an infrastructure to help define the factors. .
Researchers immunized study participants against the influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2, increasing B cells and T cells (subsets of immune cells involved in fighting pathogens) in the blood, draining lymph nodes, and bone marrow. We are planning to inspect it. Compare the immune response induced after influenza or COVID-19 vaccination with that after systemic vaccines that produce an effective lifelong immune response.
Respiratory viruses infect the mucus-secreting membranes of the respiratory tract, including the nose, sinuses, throat, airways, and lungs. Researchers also studied the persistence of immune responses at the site of infection in study participants who recovered from COVID-19 or influenza compared to systemic immune responses in the blood of the same participants. We plan to do so. Such knowledge could help guide the design of nasal vaccines against respiratory viruses.
Their work adds to WashU Medicine’s other major pandemic preparedness research projects. Recently, Dr. Diamond and Dr. Sean Whelan, Marvin A. Brennecke Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology, received a total of $90 million over the next three years from NIAID to design rapid responses to pathogens such as chikungunya. We have won two grants exceeding . , dengue virus, parainfluenza virus.
“Respiratory viruses threaten global health,” said Professor Diamond, who is also professor of molecular microbiology, pathology and immunology. “More effective vaccines are needed to prevent viral outbreaks. Studying the human immune response after vaccination and infection will help unravel the immunological shortcomings of current vaccines and provide a comprehensive and comprehensive response to disease protection.” It helps identify factors responsible for long-term immunity.”
About the University of Washington School of Medicine
WashU Medicine is a world leader in academic medicine, including biomedical research, patient care, and education programs with 2,900 faculty members. The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) research funding portfolio is the second largest among U.S. medical schools and has grown 56% over the past seven years. Combined with institutional investments, WashU Medicine commits well over $1 billion annually to basic and clinical research innovation and training. Its faculty practices are consistently among the top five in the nation, with more than 1,900 faculty physicians practicing at 130 locations and on the medical staff of BJC Healthcare’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. WashU Medicine has a storied history in MD/PhD training, recently investing $100 million in scholarships and curriculum updates for medical students, and offers training in all medical subspecialties, as well as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and audiology. We offer some of the best training programs in the field. and communication science.
