AI-designed universal coronavirus vaccine clears first human trial

New vaccine technology created with the help of artificial intelligence could provide immunity against whole families of viruses and protect people from any future mutations in a single jab, according to scientists.

The method could prevent pandemics before they begin, saving millions of lives and helping countries avoid lockdowns, researchers said.

The "super-antigen" is developed by using machine learning that analyses past and current outbreaks to determine what is essential for viruses to survive.

A world-first human trial has shown that a coronavirus vaccine made using the technology is safe, with more than 200 people set to be recruited for a phase II study.

Experts hailed the method as a "big paradigm change" to the current "reactive" system which "struggles to keep pace" as diseases evolve.

Current vaccines use antigens from specific strains of virus that have already been detected in humans.

However, the universal Sarbeco coronavirus vaccine, developed by the University of Cambridge and biotechnology company DIOSynVax, brings together features that are common in the whole family of viruses.

This is done by researchers taking all available genetic sequence data on coronaviruses logged by surveillance programmes around the world to create a "super antigen".

Professor Jonathan Heeney, from the lab of viral zoonotics at the University of Cambridge's Department of Veterinary Medicine, told the Press Association: "What that Covid pandemic taught us is how fast we can make vaccines, but we're still using the old paradigm.

"This is about making one vaccine that will get them all based on their relationships."

He added: "You hoover up all the genomic sequences; what's known from around the world, from past outbreaks and current outbreaks, and you do some basic structural science.

"We take all these different sequences…and we think, 'OK, what's consistent amongst them, what's not changing, what is essential for their life' and that's what we target.

"It not only predicts, but it targets what is essential for that virus family. We're targeting something in a virus family, which the virus can't change easily."

A phase I trial, published in the Journal of Infection, included 49 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 who had the vaccine in Cambridge and Southampton.

It was administered as DNA vaccine through a micro fluid jet.

This is a needle-free method that uses a high-pressure, hair-thin stream of liquid to push vaccine blueprints directly into skin cells.

Researchers found the jab is safe and that it triggered an immune response to not only SARS-CoV-2 and SARS, but to related bat viruses that could potentially jump from animals to humans.

A previous study in animals also found the jab sparked a strong immune response against a range of coronaviruses.

A phase II trial is expected to include "upwards of 200 or more people", Prof Heeney said.

He is hopeful that the technology can be a "game changer" that makes vaccines "far better, broader, and give more robust protection".

It could provide broad protection from thousands of variants of viruses, such as ebola.

Prof Heeney told the UK's Press Association that during his career he has travelled during outbreaks, and the one that "really left a mark" was the West African Ebola epidemic, which lasted from 2013 to 2016.

There is currently another epidemic of ebola happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, caused by bundibugyo virus.

"There's a lot of viruses out there, and once we know them, we start chasing them, but we have to change that paradigm," he said.

"And that's what this is about, it's about making vaccines that not just protect us from today's viruses, but the ones that haven't yet happened.

"A great example of that is what's going on now in the DRC. Again, yet another Ebola virus, but it's not the same one, it's from the same family. Deja vu. We're behind the curve, and these viruses belong to the same family.

"So, what we're trying to do is to make a vaccine that will protect against all those different viruses in a family, and it's a big paradigm change."

The team is also looking to advance on a vaccine for bird flu, which Prof Heeney described as a "big global threat".

He said: "This is because this bird flu virus is all around the world, on most continents, not only impacting birds, but also mammals and humans, and it's even in the food chain in America, in milk.

"So it's quite a worry, but there's different clades, or types of families, and there's particular ones in south-east Asia that are very different, but that have killed people in double digits.

"So it's about making sure that our technology can get whatever is going to pop up and protect us, and to get ahead of that curve, instead of chasing it."

Prof Saul Faust, of the University of Southampton and the trial's chief investigator, said: "Viruses like influenza, coronaviruses and the ebola group are evolving continuously and by the time vaccines are rolled out, they may be poorly matched – the current 'reactive' vaccine system struggles to keep pace.

"This new class of universal vaccines are future-proofed.

"They not only protect against many variants simultaneously, but potentially against related viruses that haven't yet emerged and spilt over to humans.

"If we can develop and clinically advance this new class of vaccines before a virus outbreak begins, millions of lives could be saved, lockdowns avoided and the economy preserved."

Prof Marian Knight, scientific director for National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Infrastructure, said: "The remarkable success of this AI-designed 'super-antigen' trial marks a pivotal leap forward in our ability to deliver broad, lasting viral protection."