Querétaro researcher develops nasal vaccine against Covid-19
The aim is to ensure that the respiratory immune system is prepared to respond to the virus as quickly as possible.
La Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) is working on the development of a vaccine against Covid-19 that can be administered through the nose.
The work is headed by Rocío Alejandra Ruiz Manzano, postdoctoral fellow in the Immunology and Vaccine Research Laboratory, which belongs to the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
La intranasal vaccine is not painful, through it we seek to activate the immune response so that the organism that comes into contact with Covid-19, previously has the antibodies that allow it to neutralize the virus; It is capable of reducing the possibility of it reaching the lower respiratory tract, explained the researcher.
The intranasal vaccine will cause a faster generation of antibodies than the one applied intravenously; The one developed by the UAQ is based on the Quivax 17.4 vaccine.
He also reported that he was looking for 5 new name proposals, since when he tried to register Quivax, there was already a patent with that name.
“(With the intranasal vaccine) we seek to ensure that the respiratory immune system is prepared to respond against the virus as quickly as possible. By administering the vaccine this way we train the local immune system. “We evaluated the possibility of using different adjuvants, which are compounds that facilitate this immune training, and we designed a method to administer so that the vaccine remains as long as possible in the upper respiratory tract and reaches the lower respiratory tract.”said Ruiz Manzano.
Currently, tests are being carried out on mice of the C57BL/6 strain, in the Animal Center of the Institute of Neurobiology of the UNAM. The tests are carried out under special conditions to prevent the mice from breathing any other infectious agent.
“We are going to evaluate the production of local antibodies in the nasotracheal tract and at a lower level, that is, at the bronchoalveolar level, as well as the pulmonary and systemic cellular response. We want the vaccine to stimulate a local response, activate the immune system and generate systemic antibodies so that the virus can be neutralized, regardless of its route of entry.”
