Researchers have developed an AI-generated T-cell-based vaccine that demonstrates effectiveness towards COVID-19 in mice, doubtlessly providing long-lasting immunity towards rising variants. This method, utilizing the RAVEN platform, is also used for creating improved vaccines for different seasonal viral illnesses, resembling influenza.
Artificial intelligence platform has the flexibility to effectively design T-cell-based vaccines that supply broad safety. The platform is also used to develop seasonal flu and different vaccines.
Researchers from Penn State have teamed up with Evaxion Biotech on a groundbreaking research that reveals the potential of an AI-generated vaccine in offering immunity towards future COVID-19 variants. Unlike current COVID-19 vaccines, which target the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and are prone to losing efficacy due to mutations, this vaccine focuses on triggering a T-cell response. This could result in a more durable immunity and serve as a model for other seasonal viral diseases, such as the flu. This study marks the first time an AI-generated vaccine has been tested and shown to be effective in a live viral challenge model.
The study conducted by Penn State and Evaxion Biotech researchers tested the effectiveness of a T-cell-based vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in mice. The results showed a remarkable 87.5% survival rate among the vaccinated mice, compared to just 1 mouse from the control group. Furthermore, all the surviving mice that received the vaccine cleared the virus within two weeks after being challenged with a lethal dose of SARS-CoV-2.
The findings were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
“To our knowledge, this study is the first to show in vivo [in a living organism] safety towards extreme COVID-19 by an AI-designed T-cell vaccine,” mentioned Girish Kirimanjeswara, affiliate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, Penn State. “Our vaccine was extremely effective at preventing severe COVID-19 in mice, and it can be easily scaled up to start testing it in humans, as well. This research also paves the way for the potential rapid design of novel T-cell vaccines against emerging and seasonal viral diseases, like influenza.”
Why do we want a T-cell-based COVID-19 vaccine when the mRNA vaccines which can be already in use are so efficient?
Researchers used a man-made intelligence platform to create a T-cell-based COVID-19 vaccine which will last more than the present vaccines. Credit: Girish Kirimanjeswara, Penn State
According to Kirimanjeswara, the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is below heavy choice strain, which may end up in mutations that drive the emergence of recent variants.
“This means that vaccine manufacturers will have to keep creating new vaccines that target new variants, and people have to keep getting these new vaccines,” he mentioned.
Instead of concentrating on the continually mutating spike protein, the workforce at Evaxion Biotech designed a vaccine that included 17 epitopes from varied proteins of SARS-CoV-2 which can be acknowledged by the immune system. These epitopes elicit an immune response from a broad choice of T cells, making certain a sustained protection of future variants.
“The virus would have to undergo too many mutations to be able to escape this T-cell-mediated immunity, so that is one advantage,” mentioned Kirimanjeswara. “The second advantage is that T-cell-mediated immunity is usually long-lasting, so you don’t need repeated booster doses.”
If T cells are so nice at remembering international brokers, why had been the first-generation COVID-19 vaccines designed to elicit responses from antibodies?
“It’s harder and takes longer to produce a T-cell-based vaccine than an antibody-based one,” mentioned Kirimanjeswara. “Given the urgency with which we needed a vaccine to address the COVID-19 pandemic, it makes sense that vaccine manufacturers created an antibody-based vaccine. Now that the urgency has passed, a second-generation T-cell-based vaccine could be more effective and last longer.”
According to co-author Anders Bundgaard Sørensen, challenge director, Evaxion Biotech, different biotechnology corporations are creating T-cell-based vaccines, however this workforce’s vaccine makes use of a number of forms of synthetic intelligence in a platform known as RAVEN (Rapidly Adaptive Viral rEspoNse) to foretell ideally suited targets for vaccines.
“RAVEN is really adaptable,” Sørensen mentioned. “We don’t have to wait for a new strain of a virus to arrive to develop a vaccine. Instead, we can predict what will be needed in advance. That’s not something that others are doing right now.”
Sørensen famous, “It’s much easier to get broad coverage with a T-cell vaccine, as we can include multiple epitopes targeting different proteins.”
He added that, along with producing higher COVID-19 vaccines, the RAVEN platform could possibly be used to develop higher influenza vaccines.
“Oftentimes, the influenza vaccines that are designed work only 30-40% of the time, so a lot of people end up getting sick,” he mentioned. “As the world becomes increasingly integrated, that problem will become larger and larger. Our platform uses AI to better predict what will be needed.”
Sørensen famous that Evaxion benefitted from partnering with Kirimanjeswara and his Penn State colleagues due to their deep experience in animal fashions of infectious illness and since the college homes a BSL-Three laboratory wherein they might safely research the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
He mentioned, “Our results are a testament to the power of industry-university partnerships.”
Reference: “DNA immunization with in silico predicted T-cell epitopes protects against lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection in K18-hACE2 mice” by Gry Persson, Katherine H. Restori, Julie Hincheli Emdrup, Sophie Schussek, Michael Schantz Klausen, McKayla J. Nicol, Bhuvana Katkere, Birgitte Rønø, Girish Kirimanjeswara and Anders Bundgaard Sørensen, 11 April 2023, Frontiers in Immunology.
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1166546
Other Penn State authors on the paper include Katherine Restori, assistant research professor; McKayla Nicol, graduate student; and Bhuvana Katkere, assistant teaching professor. Other Evaxion Biotech authors on the paper include Gry Persson, project manager; Julie Hinchelli Emdrup, research associate; Sophie Schussek, competence manager; Michael Schantz Klausen, senior associate; and Birgitte Rønø, chief scientific officer.
Innovation Fund Denmark supported this research. The Huck Institutes of Life Sciences and the College of Agricultural Sciences provided support for studies performed at Penn State.
The Eva J. Pell Laboratory is an ABSL3 (animal biological safety level three) laboratory located on Penn State’s campus. It is a self-contained, standalone facility, which means that all materials, including waste products, are managed on site for increased safety. The lab is inspected by the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is approved to conduct research on infectious agents.
