Vaccines for the control of COVID-19 based on recombinant protein and delivery system with multilamellar lipid nanoparticles

• Grant number: 22/01034-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2022
• End date: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Luis Carlos de Souza Ferreira
• Grantee: Aléxia Adrianne Venceslau Brito Carvalho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began in China and spread around the world as a pandemic with more than 5 million deaths worldwide and more of 617 thousand deaths in Brazil. Even with the rapid development and distribution of vaccines to the population, the virus continues to spread around the world, thus maintaining the urgent need to seek new prevention and treatment strategies, safe and effective, capable of preventing serious forms of the disease and controlling the spread of the virus. Subunit vaccines are the safest category of vaccines and their efficacy is increased after association with delivery systems and adjuvants. The main objective of this research project is to develop a new vaccine strategy based on the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike (S) protein of SARS-COV-2 associated with a delivery system based on multilamellar lipid vesicles (NMVs). ). This region is one of the main binding regions of neutralizing antibodies generated after vaccination and/or infection. Furthermore, vaccines based on antigens associated with lipid nanoparticles tend to trigger cellular immune responses involving T cells, something not always achieved with subunit vaccines based on recombinant proteins. It is also noteworthy that antigens associated with NMVs can promote increased longevity of induced immune responses. Therefore, it is expected to reach an important proof of concept on the use of a new vaccine platform capable of inducing more comprehensive immune responses, including both the generation of antibodies and cellular responses mediated by T cells, allied to the safety and protective efficacy of Long term.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE CASTRO-AMARANTE, MARIA FERNANDA; PEREIRA, SAMUEL SANTOS; PEREIRA, LENNON RAMOS; SANTOS, LUCAS SOUZA; VENCESLAU-CARVALHO, ALEXIA ADRIANNE; MARTINS, EDUARDO GIMENES; BALAN, ANDREA; FERREIRA, LUIS CARLOS DE SOUZA. The Anti-Dengue Virus Peptide DV2 Inhibits Zika Virus Both In Vitro and In Vivo. Viruses-Basel, v. 15, n. 4, p. 11-pg., 2023-04-01. (18/20162-9, 16/20045-7, 22/01034-5, 18/14459-9, 16/05570-8)