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Zhi Zhu 🕸️

1 week ago • •

Zhi Zhu 🕸️
1 week ago • •

"Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based #vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a #virus & can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised...

This new strategy... targets a part of the #viral genome that is common to all strains of a virus. The vaccine, how it works, & a demonstration of its efficacy in mice is described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2024/04/15/vaccine-breakthrough-means-no-more-chasing-strains

#Science #News

Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains

Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.

^News

in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️

Zhi Zhu 🕸️

in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️ • 1 week ago • •

"“What I want to emphasize about this #vaccine strategy is that it is broad,” said UCR #virologist & paper author Rong Hai. “It is broadly applicable to any number of #viruses, broadly effective against any variant of a #virus, & safe for a broad spectrum of people. This could be the universal vaccine that we have been looking for.”

The new vaccine... relies on small, silencing RNA molecules"
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2024/04/15/vaccine-breakthrough-means-no-more-chasing-strains

#Health #Science #Vaccines #Vaccination #Flu #COVID #Covid19 #News #NoPaywall

Text:
Traditionally, vaccines contain either a dead or modified, live version of a virus. The body’s immune system recognizes a protein in the virus and mounts an immune response. This response produces T-cells that attack the virus and stop it from spreading. It also produces “memory” B-cells that train your immune system to protect you from future attacks.

The new vaccine also uses a live, modified version of a virus. However, it does not rely on the vaccinated body having this traditional immune response or immune active proteins — which is the reason it can be used by babies whose immune systems are underdeveloped, or people suffering from a disease that overtaxes their immune system. Instead, this relies on small, silencing RNA molecules.

“A host — a person, a mouse, anyone infected— will produce small interfering RNAs as an immune response to viral infection. These RNAi then knock down the virus,” said Shouwei Ding, distinguished professor of microbiology at UCR, and lead paper author.

The reason viruses successfully cause disease is because they produce proteins that block a host’s RNAi response. “If we make a mutant virus that cannot produce the protein to suppress our RNAi, we can weaken the virus. It can replicate to some level, but then loses the battle to the host RNAi response,” Ding said. “A virus weakened in this way can be used as a vaccine for boosting our RNAi immune system.”
....

Vaccine breakthrough means no more chasing strains

Scientists at UC Riverside have demonstrated a new, RNA-based vaccine strategy that is effective against any strain of a virus and can be used safely even by babies or the immunocompromised.

^News

#COVID #News #COVID19 #science #health #vaccine #vaccines #flu #virus #nopaywall #Vaccination #viruses #virologist

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