Experimental COVID shot made via egg-based technology elicits a higher antibody proportion than mRNA vax
Neutralizing activity of vaccinee and convalescent serum samples against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and Delta and Beta variants. Neutralization was measured against (A) wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strain USA-WA01/2020, (B) a Delta (B.1.617.2) isolate, and (C) a Beta (B.1.351) isolate in a microneutralization assay with authentic SARS-CoV-2. For vaccine groups, n = 35, nBNT162b2 = 20, and nHCS = 18. The exception is n3μg = 34 in (B) and n3μg = 31 in (C); n1 μg = 34 nd n3μg + ODN1018 = 34 in (C); and the nplacebo = 34 in (A) and nplacebo = 32 in (B) and (C), due to a lack of sample volume. Bars show GMT, and error bars indicate SD of the GMT. The horizontal dotted lines indicate the limit of detection; values below the limit of detection were assigned a value of half of the limit of detection. For statistical analysis, log-transformed neutralization titers were compared using a Kruskal-Wallis test corrected for multiple comparisons using Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. P values for significant differences are indicated in the panels. Experiments were performed once. The vertical dashed lines indicate that the samples on the left are from the clinical trial in Thailand, while the samples on the right are from the PARIS study in New York City. credits: Science Translational Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abo2847
An experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced with technology based on a decades-old method, eliminated virus-neutralizing antibodies in a higher proportion than the amount induced by mRNA immunizations, a Phase 1 clinical trial has found.
The investigational vaccine was developed in New York City and tested in Thailand where the shots were produced using a form of egg-based technology. The fact that researchers are still racing to develop new COVID-19 vaccines highlights an ongoing need, especially in low- and middle-income countries—and for good reason.
A surprising slew of omicron subvariants has emerged since 2021. Last year, omicron spawned a dizzying number of subvariants: BA.5, BQ.1, and BQ.1.1. By January of this year, a new omicron subvariant called XBB. 1.5 was sweeping across the United States and beyond.
“A large number of vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 have been developed and licensed,” asserted Juan Manuel Carreño, writing with a team of researchers in Science Translational Medicine. As a research scientist in the microbiology department at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York