Published Online: 22 Mar 2022 https://doi.org/10.1089/aid.2021.0236
by Gerald Tracy, KOMONews.com Digital Producer
The vaccine, called GPB510, was developed at the UW School of Medicine along with SK bioscience, which is leading the clinical development. The two are seeking South Korea authorization for use within a month.
Development started when Seattle scientists looked to create a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine would be effective at low doses, safe, simple to make on a large scale and stable without deep freezing.
GPB510, fully approved by regulators, will be available through COVAX and South Korea has agreed to buy 10 million doses and UW said it is licensing the technology royalty-free throughout the pandemic.
Learn more from UW Medicine Newsroom:
UW Medicine-developed COVID vaccine effective in test
A Phase 3 clinical trial found that the second-generation vaccine generates high levels of neutralizing antibodies.
Data from Israel that shows a fourth shot increases protection against severe illness and death for people over 60 is pretty compelling, says White House COVID Czar, Dr. Ashish Jha. But he says for people in their 50s who are also eligible, it’s a closer call based on your risk level that you should make with your doctor.
UW Medicine’s Dr. Deborah Fuller says the reason is what’s known as immunosenescence, or the body’s reduced immune response to vaccines that comes around age 55. “If you’re somebody who is exposed a lot to people out there, you know, in a job say in a hospital or something, it doesn’t hurt you to get the booster. It could help, and it could help to extend your immunity.”
Dr. Fuller says you should still have some protection from the third shot, but the fourth could be enough to put you over the top in terms of keeping you out of the hospital and for added protection for the people around you who might be immunocompromised or at greater risk.
Ryan Harris, Northwest News Radio
It is unfortunate that some members of Congress* are unaware of the excellent article written by Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of the division of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the Medical Research Council at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, that thoroughly debunks the notion that animal research plays little role in medical discovery. I encourage everyone to read it.
When I hear statements suggesting that animal research plays no role in medical discovery, I am reminded that the great majority of people are unaware of the vital role that basic – or my preferred word – foundational scientific research with animals plays in the discovery and development of practically all medical advances of the last and current centuries, not the least of which are the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines that are now helping us to return to our pre-pandemic lives.
Another recent example of foundational science leading to medical discovery in the news lately is how modern brain computer interfaces help people with locked in syndrome communicate with their loved ones. This is an amazing medical accomplishment and one that would not be possible without foundational research performed over the last 25+ years, mostly in monkeys, and some of which was performed at WaNPRC by our core scientist, Dr. Eberhard Fetz. The contribution of WaNPRC’s research, veterinary and behavioral care staff is expanding with our new generation of scientists. For example, Dr. Azadeh Yazdan-Shahmorad and her team recently developed a new set of tools to explore how the brain changes with stroke, opening the door to facilitate the development of new therapies for neurorehabilitation. The tools she and her team developed include state-of-the art imaging combined with physiology and a refined method for producing a monkey model of cerebral cortical stroke. The toolbox includes a novel method for studying cerebral stroke with very small infarcts, opening up unprecedented opportunities to study the physiology of stroke associated with minimal to no functional deficits. Although we don’t yet know what medical breakthroughs these new tools will yield, there is a high likelihood that they will yield tremendous new knowledge about how our brains work both in health and disease. Contrary to the idea that basic animal research fails to lead to human therapies, basic animal research is the very foundation upon which therapies reside.
*Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) and Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC), recently deployed a method straight from the anti-animal research playbook in their letter to the interim director of NIH, by neglecting to point out that the testing of novel compounds on animals, before bringing those compounds to humans, is very effective at preventing humans (and our companion animals) from being exposed to dangerous drugs. Their letter also fails to capture the fact that if it weren’t for basic animal research, we wouldn’t have very many compounds or therapies to test.
The WaNPRC Pilot Program provides funding to collect preliminary data for future funding opportunities. The goal is to fund projects with innovative research endeavors that have translational implications to move toward human applications. This year there was a competitive pool of applications and we were able to provide funding to 2 projects.
Please join us in congratulating the Grant Year 60 recipients of the WaNPRC Pilot Program which exemplify the commitment to cutting edge science, collaboration and also support the 3Rs (Reduction, Refinement and Replacement) of animal use.
Abstract: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection worldwide. The lack of a preventative vaccine is in large part due to our poor understanding of the natural history of infection and the immune correlates of protection against CT infection and reinfection. We recently identified a virulence factor (GarD) in CT that is critical for the infection of pig-tailed macaques, and we showed that this protein functions in vitro to disrupt a major intracellular immune defense pathway. Our preliminary data indicate that this is a species-specific virulence factor and an important contributor to CT tropism for humans and nonhuman primates. Published and unpublished data by our team have shown that CT strains with null mutations in this gene are attenuated for growth in the female macaque cervicovaginal infection model. In this pilot study, we will determine the key parameters for infection and clearance of this novel genetically attenuated CT strain, through evaluating immune markers associated with clearance of the mutant strain and protection against re-challenge with wildtype CT. Our goal is to generate critical data for a subsequent NIH grant application focused on pursuing the vaccine potential of this strain and determining the immune correlates of protection against CT in humans and primates.
Abstract: Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever (VF)) is caused by two species of fungi, Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, with highest reported prevalence in Arizona and California. Due to similar clinical presentations, VF is frequently misdiagnosed and mistreated as bacterial or viral pneumonia, resulting in unnecessary antibiotic use and unresolved illness. Severe VF manifests in <5% of symptomatic cases but can be life-threatening. T cell responses play an important role in vaccine-induced protection in animal models and appear to be critical for resolution of infection in humans. The objective of this proposal is to identify T cell clones and their associated epitopes that are generated in pig-tailed macaques, a potential model for VF disease and vaccination. Our focus on the pig-tailed macaque model is due to their established VF susceptibility and the availability of naturally-infected colony animals from the WaNPRC Arizona Breeding Colony (ABC). The Arizona macaque disease incidence is similar to the Arizona human population and represents a valuable source of biospecimens. Live PBMC cells from naturally exposed and non-exposed pig-tailed macaques will be collected from the ABC or in Seattle. Macaque immune cell samples will be stimulated with Coccidioides-specific peptides, sorted, and TCR sequenced. Reactive antigens, epitopes, and TCRs will be identified using a set of peptides already in-house and reactivity will be correlated with data from human studies. If successful, this project will generate preliminary data for future grant applications, identify peptide epitopes and TCR sequences for diagnostic purposes, and provide initial antigenic targets for vaccination studies.
The WaNPRC performs critical biomedical research leading to new advances in science and medicine. WaNPRC researchers are working to develop effective vaccines and therapies for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases as well as new advances in genetics, neuroscience, vision, and stem cell biology and therapy. The WaNPRC directly supports the National Institutes of Health’s mission to translate scientific advances into meaningful improvement in healthcare and medicine.
I applaud Elon Musk and Neuralink for their recent blog post about their work involving research animals, particularly monkeys. Biomedical and behavioral research institutions in this country would be wise to take a lesson. Musk, and his company Neuralink, recently came under fire from one of a number of anti-animal research extremist organizations when they accused Neuralink of animal welfare abuses. Neuralink recently joined the 25+ year effort of neuroscientists and engineers, to develop brain-computer interfaces, a technology that promises to help people suffering with impaired mobility due to paralysis, stroke, Lou Gehrig’s disease (or ALS) and other neurological ailments that affect movement.
As all biomedical technology currently in use, the development of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for use in humans depends critically on animal models. For BCI, a genus of Old World monkey, the macaque, is particularly crucial in light of this animals’ extraordinary visual and motor capabilities, sharing many features of our own. Macaque monkeys also share many features of our immune system, which is why this genus of animals plays such an important role in the development of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.
Science by its very nature, depends on failure as well as success. Experiments do not always work, new procedures take time to develop and refine and it is physically and emotionally demanding. Anti-animal research extremists will have everyone believe that people who perform research with animals are heartless and uncaring or even incompetent. Nothing could be further from the truth and the statement released by Neuralink exposes the truth about animal research. Researchers and veterinarians who work in laboratory settings care deeply about the animals they work with and provide exceptional care for them.
Neuralink took a chance in making this public statement – they put themselves at risk of harassment and intimidation by members of groups opposed to biomedical research that depends upon animals. What I believe Neuralink also did, was clear a path for all of us to stand up and speak out on behalf of all the hard-working people who care deeply about animals and work hard in pursuit of new knowledge and medical advancements that will help humans and animals alike. It’s high time other research institutions follow the lead of Neuralink and speak the truth about our important work.
Michele A. Basso, PhD
KING TV: UW doctor fights COVID misinformation targeting pregnant women
By Eric Wilkinson
SEATTLE — The internet is filled with websites spreading lies and misinformation about COVID-19. A quick Google search finds page after page of articles downplaying the effectiveness of
vaccines.
“They say the data shows COVID vaccines are a spectacular failure. In reality, it’s exactly the opposite,” said UW Medicine OB/GYN Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf.
She sees the effects all the time with her patients.
“Like many, I’ve become tired of the misinformation and I find it’s really hard to battle this,” she said.
The breaking point for Adams Waldorf and her colleagues was last summer when 15 unvaccinated pregnant women in Mississippi alone died from COVID.
They knew they had to push back on the misinformation killing moms and their unborn babies.
“We now know that the COVID-19 disease increases a pregnant woman’s chances of dying 22 times and the vaccine is protective for this,” said Adams Waldorf. “That’s an incredibly important piece of information women need to know.”
Adams Waldorf launched a social media campaign called One Vax Two Lives and a website called onevaxtwolives.com. It’s dispelling many of the myths – like the vaccine is “experimental” and not safe for pregnant women or their fetuses.
According to Adams Waldorf, scientists have been studying mRNA vaccines for 20 or 30 years.
“We know so much about them it’s absolutely incorrect to say this is an experimental vaccine,” she said.
Some of the misinformation has a kernel of truth – like the fact that the vaccine alters a woman’s menstrual cycle.
“That’s actually true, but it’s true by only one day,” said the doctor. “So a 28-day menstrual cycle becomes a 29-day menstrual cycle, which is within the spectrum of normal, and it’s temporary.”
One thing Adams Waldorf said is very true about some of the misinformation sites is the profit motive. Many of the sites have direct links where readers can buy unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments. Continue reading…
How mRNA and DNA vaccines could soon treat cancers, HIV, autoimmune disorders and genetic diseases
The two most successful coronavirus vaccines developed in the U.S. – the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – are both mRNA vaccines. The idea of using genetic material to produce an immune response has opened up a world of research and potential medical uses far out of reach of traditional vaccines. Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist at the University of Washington and Associate Director of Research for the Washington National Primate Research Center. She has been studying genetic vaccines for more than 20 years. The Conversation spoke to her about the future of mRNA vaccines for The Conversation Weekly podcast.