American scientists announce the development of a possible vaccine for the Corona virus

Dr.. Osama Abu Al-Rub

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in the United States announced Thursday the development of a possible vaccine against the emerging coronavirus (SARS Cove 2) that causes Covid-19, in a statement posted on the university's website.

Vaccination or vaccination is a preparation that is given to a person to form immunity in his body against a specific disease, and it consists of disease germs that have been killed or weakened, or parts thereof, and when entering the body stimulates the immune system to form antibodies to a specific disease and immune memory, so that the immune system remembers the pathogen that causes By attacking it and eliminating it immediately when it enters the body the next time.

The statement said that the vaccine - when tested in mice - produces antibodies to the Corona virus in quantities believed to be sufficient to neutralize the virus. The vaccine is delivered to the body through a finger-sized patch.

The study was published in the "EBioMedicine" magazine, published by "The Lancet".

"We had previous experience with SARS-CoV in 2003, and MERS-CoV in 2014. These are the two viruses," said Andrea Gambuto, a doctoral degree in medicine who is a professor of adjuvant surgery at the Pittsburgh College of Medicine. They are closely related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and we learned that a specific protein called spike protein is important for stimulating immunity against the virus. We knew exactly where we were fighting this new virus. "

Rapid development
"Our ability to rapidly develop this vaccine was the result of scientists with expertise in a variety of areas of research working together with a common goal," said co-author Dr. Louis Fallow, professor and head of the Department of Dermatology at Pittsburgh College of Medicine.

The authors named the PittCoVacc vaccine, an acronym for Pittsburgh Coronavirus Vaccine.

The new vaccine uses in vitro-manufactured parts of the viral protein to build immunity to the emerging coronavirus in the same way as the current flu vaccine.

The researchers also used a new approach to deliver the drug to the body, called a microneedle array, to increase efficacy. This array is a finger-sized patch of four hundred small needles that transfer the spike protein pieces to the skin, so that the immune response is stronger.

The patch works like a wound patch, then the mini needles - made entirely of sugar and protein bars - dissolve into the skin.

"We developed this based on the original method used to deliver the smallpox vaccine to the skin, but with a high-tech and more efficient version for the patient," Fallot said.

Once manufactured, the vaccine can be stored at room temperature, eliminating the need for refrigeration during transport or storage.

Antibodies
When tested in mice, the Kovac House vaccine produced an increase in antibodies against the Corona virus within two weeks.

The mice have not been tracked in the long term yet, but researchers point out that the mice who received the MERS virus that causes respiratory syndrome in the Middle East have produced enough levels of antibodies to neutralize the virus for at least a year, and so far, levels of antibodies to the emerging corona virus indicate Until animals immunized with the current vaccine follow the same trend.

Also, the Kovac House vaccine maintains its effectiveness even after it is completely sterilized with gamma rays, which is a major step towards making a product suitable for use with humans.

Currently, researchers are applying for approval of the new vaccine from the US Food and Drug Administration, to start the first phase of human clinical trials in the next few months.

"The test in patients usually requires at least a year and maybe more ... This particular situation is different from anything we have ever seen, so we do not know how long the clinical development process will take," Fallo said.

The recently announced reviews of regular operations indicate that we may be able to proceed - with clinical trials - faster. "