The Wang Bit27 Apr 2021 08:55
To make a universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine that provides long-term protection, we may need to think beyond the spike, Baozhong Wang, a biologist at Georgia State University, says. “Broad, neutralizing antibodies to conserved areas in spike protein are important, but not the whole” solution, Wang says. T-cell responses in the lungs will be crucial, too, because they catalog memories of past respiratory viral pathogens. These responses are predominantly induced by proteins inside the virus, Wang explains, such as the nucleoproteins and enzymes that help it reproduce, rather than its spike.