Pandemics | Could a universal vaccine immunize against all coronaviruses?

Since the beginning of the year, the coronavirus has become practically synonymous with COVID-19, but the reality is not exactly this. Only the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is responsible for the current pandemic, meanwhile other viruses of the same type have coexisted with humans for centuries. Indeed, coronaviruses represent a well-known viral family among researchers, and scientists now plan to create a single vaccine effective against all of them.

Through computational models, genetics, molecular biology and medical data, a team of scientists investigates commonalities between the different coronaviruses already known to humanity for the development of a universal vaccine, capable of immunizing against this family of infectious agents. In an article published in the journal Science, nearly 200 scientists from different countries and areas of activity wondered if this task was possible.

A potential vaccine against all types of coronaviruses could save hundreds of thousands of lives, but even scientists are not sure of its feasibility. So far, the team thinks they have found a number of common factors, most notably the proteins used to invade human cells, in the three deadliest coronaviruses in recent history. This is the first step towards a potential vaccine.

Coronavirus and risks to humanity

In the past two decades, humanity has discovered three deadly respiratory syndromes associated with coronavirus (CoV) infections. The first was severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002. Ten years later, scientists identified Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. More recently, the world is facing the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic, the well known COVID-19.

These diseases are caused by the SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus respectively. However, prior to the discovery of these last three coronaviruses, this viral family was associated with respiratory diseases that were considered mild. In humans, many coronaviruses cause only colds or coughs, without complications. Therefore, they were not considered a major public health problem as they are now.

Problems arise when a virus that had an animal as a natural host undergoes mutations to the point of infecting the human organism. This is the case with the strains of a coronavirus that originally affected camels, as happened at MERS. In addition to mutations, through consumption or other means, this infectious agent has managed to infect people, where it has become a deadly virus and can potentially spread among humans themselves, like COVID-19.

Similarities Between Coronaviruses

If there is any advantage in this viral group, it is that coronaviruses are genetically similar. In other words, most of these infections occur through some proteins in the virus membrane that “connect” to these human cells, initiating an infection. At that point, it is the key to developing a potential universal vaccine. According to the team of researchers, it is possible to identify common proteins among the three potentially deadly coronavirus types. If a vaccine manages to deactivate these or this protein, the coronavirus would no longer be able to infect humans.

Based on early work on the SARS-CoV-2 genome and its interaction with 300 human proteins that enabled infection of healthy cells, the researchers expanded computational analysis to SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV looking for similarities. Although these proteins interact in different ways, the team recorded 73 proteins necessary (and in common) for coronavirus replication.

Next steps for the universal vaccine

The identified potential proteins are shared among all currently known coronaviruses that have passed from animals to humans, namely the SARS, MERS and COVID-19 viruses. However, this does not mean that other coronaviruses can appear without the same vulnerability. In other words, scientists are more likely to find an effective answer only to those viruses that are already known. Another point is that this immunizer would only have an effect if these infectious agents did not significantly mutate, changing their structures.

All these challenges, on the other hand, don’t mean this project isn’t important. Instead, the group is developing a common formula to immunize humanity against the already known coronaviruses. Current investigations should work together with COVID-19 control, as in smarter remedies, and could contribute, in some way, to the next pandemic that humanity will one day face.

To access the article, published on Science, click here.

Source: Singularity Hub