Lilly the pink invented medicinal compound the saviour of the human race according to the Scaffold….Today we hear of a universal vaccine for respiratory infection …….oh it’s in mice.
Mice don’t develop life long immunity like guinea pigs and humans so remember that when you hear the news as the new vaccine only protects for a while…But it is working in a novel way and giving the vaccine all the time is a way to make money. Here they use a a nasal spray and it revs up phagocytes by stimulating their infection recognition systems.
‘Universal vaccine’ protects mice against multiple pathogens
An innovative approach supercharges the innate immune system to provide a first line of defence against respiratory infections.
L Drew says
“Imagine if a nasal spray could make you immune…..to all respiratory diseases…..When given to mice, the vaccine protected them for at least three months against multiple disease-causing viruses and bacteria and even quelling responses to respiratory allergens If the research translates to humans safely and effectively, such a ‘universal vaccine’ could be offered to everyone at the start of each winter — and perhaps provide a first line of defence against future pandemics”
Current vaccines stimulate T and B cells to specifically target pathogens which they recognise using their antigen receptors. There is a simpler system that allows the first line of defence created by phagocytes such as macrophages to recognise invaders as they have pattern recognition systems to see bits of viruses and bacteria etc.
They start with the idea that BCG gives protective immunity.. to many things. BCG is a mycobacteria from a cow infection that gives cross protection from tuberculosis and perhaps leprosy caused by different mycobacteria. It was also suggested in the past that it protected against MS. This idea seems to have gone down the plughole and you have to ask why didn’t it stop MS in the UK as every kid in UK used to get vaccinated at school before they got MS.I still have the scar on my arm to prove it. I remember the infection site reaction. Mycobacterium are used to induce EAE in mice by giving it with brain tissue. Reving up macrophages could have consequences for MS too so we will have to see where this goes as it is not always straight forward.
Here they mix an activators of TLR-4 (recognizing bacteria) and TLR7/TLR8 (recognizing viruses) and chicken egg white protein (to activate T cells not sure I understand this properly) and put it in particles and there is some beneficial effects in immunity against a variety of infections. This is all over the world media and we wish them well a great bit of publicity for the company. Let’s see where it goes.
COI None from me
Disclaimer: My views
Source: multiple-sclerosis-research.org