Developing A Coronavirus Vaccine: UCR Researchers Team Up

RIVERSIDE, CA — A team that includes UC Riverside researchers has identified a protein in a virus from the previous decade that might prove beneficial in developing a vaccine to combat novel coronavirus, according to the university.

During studies, the scientists isolated a protein designated "Nsp15" from the severe acute respiratory syndrome — SARS — outbreak of 2003 that could be useful in testing for vaccines intended to prevent or reduce the threat of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

The research was a combined project of the UC Riverside Biomedical Sciences lab, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

"Nsp15 is conserved among coronaviruses and is essential in their lifecycle and virulence," said Andrzej Joachimiak, a fellow at the Argonne National Laboratory. "Initially, Nsp15 was thought to directly participate in viral replication, but more recently, it was proposed to help the virus replicate possibly by interfering with the host's immune response."

The researchers conducted genomic mapping of the SARS pathogen using 3D visualization, and said further unraveling the Nsp15 composition should offer clues as to what immunological tools might work best in halting the coronavirus strain.

"The Nsp15 protein has been investigated in SARS as a novel target for new drug development, but that never went very far because the SARS epidemic went away, and all new drug development ended," said Karla Satchell, a professor of microbiology-immunology at Northwestern. "Some inhibitors were identified but never developed into drugs. The inhibitors that were developed for SARS now could be tested against this protein."

The process remains in the early stages, with mapping of other proteins still underway, according to the researchers.

Racing to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, on Feb. 18 it was announced that the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response was working with Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi.

Sanofi will use its egg-free, recombinant DNA platform to produce a recombinant 2019 novel coronavirus vaccine candidate, according to the HHS.

There is currently no approved vaccine, treatment, or diagnostic for novel COVID-19 infections, and experts concur that an approved vaccine is probably at a year away.

According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 has claimed more than 3,000 lives, the vast majority in China, where it was first detected. Health officials have identified roughly 88,000 infections globally.

In the United States, thousands are being monitored over concerns of COVID-19 infection. California has the highest number, while in Washington State an emergency declaration was announced in King County Monday. Six people infected with coronavirus have died in that state — five were from King County.

In Riverside County, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19.

In a media briefing Monday, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of COVID-19 cases in China continues to decline. China reported 206 cases to WHO on Sunday, the lowest since January 22. Only eight of those cases were reported outside Hubei province.

Beyond China, a total of 8,739 cases of COVID-19 were reported to WHO from 61 countries, with 127 deaths, the WHO director-general said. During Monday's briefing, Tedros also said that over the previous 24 hours there were almost nine times more cases reported outside China than inside the country.

"The epidemics in the Republic of Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are our greatest concern," Tedros said.

—City News Service contributed to this report.