Covid-19 Researchers Find Clues on Coronavirus Immunity in Lab Animal Tests
May 20 2020 - 2:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Peter Loftus
Coronavirus research in animals is yielding some clues about
immunity and vaccines -- with a big caveat that these findings
don't always translate into benefits for humans.
On Wednesday, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. scientists and their
academic collaborators published data in Nature Communications
showing the company's experimental DNA-based coronavirus vaccine
induced immune responses in laboratory mice and guinea pigs.
Researchers said the results are promising, but the more important
data are expected in June from a clinical trial of the vaccine in
people that started in April.
Another DNA-based vaccine, developed at the Center for Virology
and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in
Boston, provided protection to rhesus macaques when the vaccinated
monkeys were intentionally exposed to the virus, according to a
separate study published Wednesday in the journal Science'
The Beth Israel researchers, working with other institutions,
also found in another study that unvaccinated monkeys who recovered
from an initial coronavirus infection developed protective
immunity, resulting in little to no clinical disease when exposed
to the virus a second time.
Scientists are still exploring whether humans who have recovered
from Covid-19 are protected from re-exposure. The new monkey data
suggest it is possible, and a vaccine could build on that immune
response, said Dan Barouch, principal investigator at the Beth
Israel vaccine center and a professor at Harvard Medical
School.
"If a virus can induce natural protective immunity in a majority
of individuals, then it is much more likely there will be
successful vaccines," said Dr. Barouch. He is collaborating with
Johnson & Johnson on developing a coronavirus vaccine for
humans, which is different from the one tested in monkeys in the
new study.
Write to Peter Loftus at Peter.Loftus@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2020 14:07 ET (18:07 GMT)
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