Director of the Gamaleya Center Alexander Gintsburg spoke about the features of the coronavirus vaccine containing virus-like particles. According to him, the drug will give protection against several variants of the virus, while it will need to be administered twice to increase the specificity of the antibodies. The new Russian COVID-19 vaccine containing virus-like particles will be two-component. This is necessary in order to multiply memory cells and increase the specificity of antibodies, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, told RIA Novosti.
“The vaccine will be given twice, this is done to multiply the memory cells,” Gunzburg said.
According to him, the drug will provide protection against several variants of the virus at once.
“This is a new vaccine developed on a new platform. The vaccine will be polyvalent. We will combine different antigenic variants of the s-protein, including delta and omicron,” Gunzburg said. According to the Gamaleya Center, the vaccine will be able to simultaneously protect against several strains of coronavirus.
According to Gunzburg, the vaccine may appear in civilian circulation by autumn. “The first or second phase of clinical trials should take 3-3.5 months, and then we will look at the effectiveness,” he said.
The head of the Research Center Gamaleya stressed that there will be no “live virus” in the vaccine. “Two injections are almost always given if it is a non-live vaccine, so that there are memory cells and to increase the specificity of antibodies,” Gunzburg explained.
Virus-like particles are molecular complexes similar to viruses but unable to infect humans because they do not contain the viral genome.
Insect cells will be the basis
Gintsburg said that the protein synthesis system for the new VLP-corona vaccine was created on the basis of insect cells.“Insect cells allow the synthesis of proteins in enormous quantities. We have created plasmids that are placed into cells as a template. They help synthesize protein. It self-aggregates (self-organizes) into a structure that resembles a virus, but does not contain RNA or DNA,” explained the head of the Gamaleya Center.
Gintsburg noted that completely different proteins can be obtained in insect cells.
“What kind of protein you put in there, you will get one. This is done using plasmids that encode either the “delta” version of the S protein or “omicron,” the scientist pointed out.
On February 16, the Ministry of Health allowed testing of a vaccine with virus-like particles. The drug is called the VLP-corona vaccine. His study will involve 600 volunteers aged 18 to 55. The experts will test the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the "optimal dose of the vaccine compared to placebo for 21 days after two intramuscular injections of drugs."
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“Antibody cocktail”
Gintsburg previously announced that the Ministry of Health would soon allow clinical trials of a drug against coronavirus based on monoclonal antibodies.A similar “antibody cocktail” has already been registered for emergency use in the United States, and was treated by former US President Donald Trump.
Trials should take three to four months, and the drug can be released in the second half of spring. “But the fact that this drug is effective is already known from Western analogues,” Gunzburg said.
Is there a virus in the nasal vaccine
The scientist also commented on the information that the nasal coronavirus vaccine could allegedly be more dangerous for the body than the one administered intramuscularly.He pointed out that the drug developed by the Gamaleya Center is not dangerous for the body, since it does not contain a live virus.
U.S. virologist Konstantin Chumakov said earlier that the nasal vaccine against COVID-19 could be more dangerous than the intramuscular one. According to him, the nose is connected with the brain, which can get a virus or an antigen.
The Ministry of Health in mid-October 2021 allowed clinical trials of a nasal vaccine against coronavirus.
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