The US military has completed the first clinical trial of the vaccine and is expected to target all existing forms of the coronavirus. Called SpFN (spike ferritin nanoparticle), the vaccine has shown promise in trials on primates and the first results of human trials are expected “this month,” according to a press release from the institute. US Army research report Walter Reed released on Thursday.

The vaccine may also help protect against coronaviruses other than COVID-19, which may offer hope in the face of future pandemics. The vaccine is designed on a new platform called “self-assembled protein nanoparticle”. According to Defense One, unlike most vaccines currently available, which use mRNA to trigger the immune system, this vaccine works by injecting a molecule that looks like a 24-sided soccer ball.

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Each side of the “balloon” contains a little spike protein that can trigger the body’s protective immune response. Thus scientists can pinpoint the peaks of multiple types of coronavirus on different sides of the “balloon”, so that the body can protect itself from multiple types at once, rather than taking a separate dose for each type.

Preclinical results are promising, according to the military

The army said that the first results obtained in primates suggest that the vaccine may work against variants of Kovid-19 and other coronaviruses.

SpFN protected primates from disease caused by the original version of the covid-19 coronavirus, according to a study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Translational Medicine. Two doses given 28 days apart also elicited strong immune responses against alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants.

“The results of the first clinical trials of SPFN in humans, called Phase I, are expected to be released “this month,” the military said in a press release.

Develop a vaccine against the next pandemic

In primates, SpFN was able to trigger a strong immune response against SARS-CoV-1, a relative of the COVID-19 coronavirus responsible for the SARS epidemic that killed 774 people in 2002 and 2003.

The hope is that this injection could lead to an effective “pan-coronavirus” vaccine that can target all types of coronaviruses.

The military is not the only institution to design vaccines for the pan-coronavirus, as the insider previously reported. Such a vaccine could also be useful in preventing future pandemics, which are expected to be caused by other types of coronavirus.

“The accelerated emergence of human coronaviruses over the past two decades and the appearance of forms of SARS-CoV-2, the most recent of which is Omicron, underscore the need for a new generation of preventive vaccines that provide broad protection against the coronavirus disease. Dr. Kayvan, MD, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch at WRAIR, co-inventor of the vaccine and head of SpFN for the US military, said in the statement.

Original Version: Marianne Guénot/The Insider

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