Investigational chimp adenovirus MERS-CoV vaccine protects monkeys
Vaccine neutralizes multiple MERS-CoV strains
An investigational vaccine called ChAdOx1 MERS protected two groups of rhesus macaques from disease caused by Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). MERS-CoV is a relative of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). National Institutes of Health scientists and colleagues are pursuing similar studies with ChAdOx1 SARS2, a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. They posted their results with ChAdOx1 MERS on a preprint server. The findings are not yet peer-reviewed but are being shared to assist the public health response to COVID-19.
ChAdOx1 MERS, which uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver a MERS-CoV protein in recipients, also worked against six different strains of MERS-CoV when tested in mice as a single vaccination. Scientists from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont., led the project. Collaborators work at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom; researchers at the University of Oxford Jenner Institute developed the ChAdOx1 vaccine technology.
Colorized transmission electron micrograph showing particles of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus that emerged in 2012.
This page was last updated on Friday, January 21, 2022