Researchers studying SARS-CoV-2 may have developed a new approach to an oral vaccine that is both easier to administer and more effective against the disease, according to a recent Oxford University Press paper published in Biological Methods and Protocols. The best way to neutralize the virus is to neutralize it before it gets inside human cells, but only on the outer surfaces of the epithelial cells that line the lungs, nose and mouth and produce mucus. A specific class of antibodies called immunoglobulin A works in mucus to disable the virus.
However, the production of specific immunoglobulins/antibodies against a given virus must first be induced by vaccination. Vaccines that effectively and rapidly produce immunoglobulin A antibodies may better prevent disease. Because coronaviruses infect bronchial cells like influenza, the researchers believe it is important to induce the secretion of viral antigen-specific immunoglobulin A in the mucosa rather than in the blood.
Researchers studying SARS-CoV-2 may have developed a new way to deliver an oral vaccine that is both easier to administer and more effective against the disease, according to a recent paper published in Biological Methods and Protocols by Oxford University Press.
The best way to neutralize the virus is to neutralize it before it gets inside human cells, but only on the outer surfaces of the epithelial cells that line the lungs, nose and mouth and produce mucus. A specific class of antibodies called immunoglobulin A works in mucus to disable the virus. However, the production of specific immunoglobulins/antibodies against a given virus must first be induced by vaccination. Vaccines that effectively and rapidly produce immunoglobulin A antibodies may better prevent disease.
Because coronaviruses, like influenza, infect bronchial cells, the researchers believe that secretion of viral antigen-specific immunoglobulin A must be induced in the mucosa rather than in the blood. More recently, scientists have developed vaccines that are administered through other routes, such as nasal or oral administration.
This type of vaccine induces immunoglobulin A more effectively than traditional subcutaneous vaccines. Although doctors have used intranasal vaccines in clinical settings, they have found that they often cause side effects on the central nervous system or lungs, such as headaches and fever.
This study examined a new SARS-CoV-2 vaccine designed to induce oral (sublingual) production of immunoglobulin A in monkeys. The approach worked, and the animals used in the trial produced the necessary disease-fighting antibodies without any apparent side effects. This suggests that with further research, clinics may soon be able to offer an oral vaccine against the coronavirus that will be more popular and more successful in combating the disease.