Vaccines are biological preparations that help to provide immunity against infectious diseases. They work by introducing a weakened or dead form of a disease-causing organism, or a piece of its genetic material, into the body. This triggers an immune response, which helps the body recognize and remember the pathogen if it infects the body again in the future. As a result, the body can quickly produce an immune response, which helps to prevent the disease from developing or reduces its severity.
Vaccines are enhanced by adjuvants designed using computers.
A Chinese research team has made a breakthrough in vaccine development by using computer-aided molecular design and
By using computer-aided molecular design and machine learning, Bing Yan, Sijin Liu, and their team at the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences and the Capital Medical University in Beijing, as well as the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Hangzhou, the Shandong First Medical University & Shandong
Mice treated with tumor-specific antigens plus one of these new adjuvants demonstrated strong immune responses that suppressed tumor growth and lung metastases after implantation of specific cancer cells.
Adjuvants further optimized through this method could reduce the problem of decreasing immunity for current vaccines and perhaps make booster vaccines unnecessary. Their use in immunotherapy to treat cancer is also highly promising.
Reference: “Computer-Aided Discovery of Potent Broad-Spectrum Vaccine Adjuvants” by Juan Ma, Shenqing Wang, Chuanfang Zhao, Xiliang Yan, Quanzhong Ren, Zheng Dong, Jiahuang Qiu, Yin Liu, Qing’e Shan, Ming Xu, Bing Yan and Sijin Liu, 23 February 2023, Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202301059
The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and The Pearl River Talent Recruitment Program.