"While working on the avian [coronovirus] vaccine, the scientists said they identified a possible COVID-19 vaccine candidate as a by-product of the [avian] vaccine and have made the 'required genetic adjustments to adapt the vaccine to COVID-19, the human strain of coronavirus.'...
"It’s a little bit like fate that we were working on this coronavirus vaccine at the same time that the world was suddenly hit by this epidemic of coronavirus for humans,” [Dr. Shahar of the MIGAL institute] says...."
I don't know much about nocamels, but this report is correct. Earlier interviews with the MIGAL scientists have appeared in Jerusalem Post and other long-established Israeli websites. And the Israelis are not the only ones who have a vaccine that is just about ready for testing:
1. An American Company (Moderna Therapeutics) has developed an anti-virus vaccine for this general type of RNA virus and is about to test it on people.
2. A small American company (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) will soon have a treatment that will serve as a vaccine for those who don't have coronavirus and a treatment for those who do. They inject coronovirus antibodies directly into the bloodstream instead of relying upon a vaccine to create those antibodies. They used a similar treatment to prevent and cure Ebola.
Given these developments and the red tape that will be cut to get a vaccine out as quickly as possible, I expect that those of us with CLL will be able to get a coronavirus vaccine with our flu shots this fall.
The Regeneron Pharmaceuticals treatment could even work with those of us whose immune systems are so compromised that we don't respond to normal vaccines.
I just Googled this and there are other news sources reporting this development. That being said, they will need to run anything through a clinical trial to verify the vaccine is safe for humans so nothing is imminent. I wouldn't be surprised to see a solution come out of Israel as the Israelis often are at the forefront of innovative technology. Keep your fingers crossed. I'm certain there are scientists all over the globe chasing a solution....
The company name is not very convincing but what is reassuring to me is that Israel has a very long list of innovations, especially in technology and medicine. When I first saw it I was amazed. This wouldn't surprise me.
As far as I know, there are no vaccines that have been developed using synthetic biology. Most medications are based on synthetic biology, but will our bodies recognise a vaccine as an antigen and launch antibodies? This will be interesting to see.
I might just be wrong about the synthetic biology. There is a universal flu vaccine moving into a Phase 3 clinical trial. It has been developed using synthetic biology.
It's a one jab forever vaccine that targets a different part of the flu virus that is not subject to annual mutation.
Their avian coronavirus vaccine already passed clinical trials with chickens, so their synthetic biology works. Here's the part of the article that surprised me:
"[T]he protection [provided by the vaccine] is in the mucosal tissues which affect the respiratory and intestinal systems. And we know that this is how COVID-19 works, by affecting these systems,” he says.
Before reading this, I thought antibodies were all in the blood stream. Not so! The mucosal immune system also has antibodies. It consists of thin permeable barriers to infection in the lungs, gut, eyes, nose, throat, uturus and vagina. It is the body's first line of defense against infection.
This vaccine would be perfect for those of us with CLL. Since it creates antibodies in the mucosal immune system, not in the blood stream, it should work just as well for those with CLL as for those with normal blood systems.
HowardR, here is my understanding of the origin of the IgA in mucosal tissue:
The plasma cells that provide the IgA to the mucosal system originate in the bone marrow as CD34+ preB cells, migrate from there to the blood where they further develop into naive B cells, migrate from there to lymph tissue/spleen where they become germinal center B cells and are selected to form antibody-secreting plasma cells or memory B cells by the antigens that they encounter. The memory cells migrate back to the bone marrow (ready to spring into action to produce circulating plasma cells) and the IgA-producing plasma cells migrate to the mucosal system where they synthesize and secrete IgA.
So basically the IgA-producing cells in mucosal tissue originate from the same place as all other B cells including our nasty CLL cells, and are subjected to the same limitations as our circulating IgG-producing B cells.
I just read a new statement about how the Israeli vaccine works:
"Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL’s Biotechnology Group Leader, commented, 'The scientific framework for the vaccine is based on a new protein expression vector, which forms and secretes a chimeric soluble protein that delivers the viral antigen into mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis (a cellular process in which substances are brought into a cell by surrounding the material with cell membrane, forming a vesicle containing the ingested material), causing the body to form antibodies against the virus.'"
Am I correct in assuming that this mechanism still requires the person to have IgA-producing cells in mucosal tissue, which those of us with advanced CLL do not have?
Yes, it is still the B cells in the mucosal tissue that are needed to produce the IgA.
Take a look at the article below for a nice explanation of the process of antibody formation in mucosal tissue response to vaccination. The Israel vaccine is an oral one, but the process in the mucosal system is the same.
“The development of mucosal vaccines for both mucosal and systemic immune induction and the roles played by adjuvants”
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