Researchers develop new vaccine against fatal respiratory syndrome in the Middle East

A collaborative team from the Medical Department of the University of Texas at Galveston, Saudi Arabia and Canada has developed a powerful and safe vaccine that protects against the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The results were recently published in The Infectious Diseases Journal.

MERS was first identified on the death of a viral infection in 2012. The virus, which can cause severe and fatal respiratory symptoms, systemic infection and organ failure, has caused more than 2,250 confirmed infections. with a mortality rate of 35% in 27 of the countries. MERS can be transmitted from camel to human or person to person. Many cases in the world are related to the Arabian Peninsula because of its high population of camels, but it could spread globally, as has shown a 2015 epidemic in South Korea.

"In the past, we have focused primarily on the development of universal influenza vaccines by targeting viral proteins to specific cells carrying a molecule called CD40 on their surface," said lead author Chien-Te K Tseng, Professor at biodefense and emerging centers of the UTMB Diseases. "We have modified and optimized our previous vaccine platform to generate new potential MERS vaccines."

Tseng said that while other research groups have investigated various MERS vaccine platforms in animal models, serious safety concerns are often badociated with vaccines for the family of viruses to which MERS belongs. The present study aimed to use a different vaccine platform that is both safer and more effective.

The research team developed two versions of a potential vaccine and evaluated their efficacy and safety in genetically engineered mice in order to have a more humane immune response. Once the mice were vaccinated and then infected with MERS-CoV, both vaccines protected them against clinical signs of illness and death. However, one of the vaccines could not prevent the virus from causing lung lesions. The other potential vaccine, which more selectively targeted cells with CD40, resulted in no lung injury.

"Our platform offers a promising strategy to improve the safety and potency of the MERS vaccine and can also be used to improve the safety and efficacy of vaccines against a wide range of pathogens," said lead author Anwar Hashem, badociate professor at King Fahd Medical. Research Center and Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.