Vaccine vs many common cold viruses achievable
The quest for a vaccine against rhinoviruses may have seemed quixotic, because there are more than 100 varieties circulating around the world. Even so, the immune system can handle the challenge, researchers from Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta say.
Vaccines that combine dozens of varieties of rhinovirus at once are effective in stimulating antiviral antibodies in mice and monkeys, the researchers report in Nature Communications. The paper was also posted on Biorxiv before publication.
“We think that creating a vaccine for the common cold can be reduced to technical challenges related to manufacturing,” says Martin Moore, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Sujin Lee is the first author on the scientific paper "A polyvalent inactivated rhinovirus vaccine is broadly immunogenic in rhesus macaques"
The vaccine tested by Emory/CHOA researchers does not cover all known rhinoviruses, but it does stimulate antibodies against 50 of them.
Rhinoviruses are the predominant cause of the common cold and also exacerbate asthma.
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