RE: Of interest27 Oct 2022 10:25
The of scancell interest bit:
268 Multiple studies have reported the detection of Nucleocapsid (N)-specific humoral and cellular responses in most
269 COVID-19 patients (Grifoni et al., 2020, Long et al., 2020, Okba et al., 2020), suggesting that N glycoprotein could
270 be an alternative target for next-generation COVID-19 vaccines. Rice et al. generated a bivalent human adenovirus
271 serotype 5 (hAd5) vaccine, comprising of sequence for both S and N proteins, generated enhanced de novo antigen272 specific humoral and cellular responses in antigen-naïve preclinical models (Rice et al., 2020). Similarly, Brentville
273 et al. generated a DNA vaccine encoding both the RBD of S and N glycoproteins, elicited strong humoral response
274 coupled with proinflammatory CD4 Th1 and CD8 T cell responses, which provided effective cross-protection against
275 the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants (Brentville et al., 2021).
276 The emergence of the Omicron variant is a wake-up call for us that new-generation vaccines are needed to fight against
277 COVID-19 pandemic. Current available data with SARS-COV-2 and past experience with SARS-CoV and MERS278 CoV human infections would suggest that vaccines that target the more conserved N glycoproteins by inducing both
279 humoral and cellular immunity could be an effective way to overcome the viral immune escape due to mutations in
280 the S glycoprotein.