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Scientists have developed a prototype of a super-powerful vaccine
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Scientists from Brigham (BWH) have created a prototype glycoconjugate vaccine, which is 100 times more effective than all available vaccines for today.
The glycoconjugate vaccine consists of covalently linked carbohydrate and protein molecules, as are many standard vaccines used to protect against common diseases such as pneumonia or meningitis.
The researchers developed a prototype vaccine, discovering that the cells of the immune system, in particular T cells, can recognize carbohydrates of the vaccine and elicit an immune response. This discovery challenges the established assumptions that the cells of the immune system are recognized only by the proteins of pathogens that underlie all modern vaccines.
Evidence that T cells recognize carbohydrates is a study in which scientists immunized mice with different types of glycoconjugate vaccine against Streptococcus (group B Streptococcus) bacteria. The researchers injected one group of mice with a vaccine with proteins from another pathogen, and the control group was inoculated with a vaccine containing proteins streptococcus. For both groups, the carbohydrate chain in the vaccines was the same and matched the strain of the causative agent of the disease.
Researchers saw that the immune response in both groups was the same. These results indicated that the T cells recognized the carbohydrates of the streptococcus pathogen. In addition, scientists have investigated the mechanisms of activation of protective immunity to bacterial infections of glycoconjugate carbohydrate-containing vaccines.
"We were able to find T cells after immunizing the glycoconjugate with carbohydrate-containing vaccines, so these T cells are the first cells identified in the laboratory that recognize carbohydrates," said Dennis L. Casper, head of the BWH Channing Laboratory.
This discovery has prompted scientists to design a vaccine that contains a variety of carbohydrate particles. A similar vaccine showed a stronger immune response. Researchers believe the vaccine will be effective in all high-risk populations. "For example, the pneumococcal vaccine is effective when used in children, and the elderly do not," Casper explained.
"Carbohydrates are one of the most common and structurally diverse molecules in nature, they play an important role in many biological functions, and we hope that our study will serve as the basis for the production of a new generation of therapeutic and prophylactic agents not only against bacterial infections but also for treatment cancer and viral diseases, "Kasper said.
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