'Fake Virus' Pretender, New Supplement Boosts COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness↑

Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology Completes Animal Application Technology Transfer...Advances Human Use Development

New vaccine adjuvant compound. Photo by Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Amid the recent emphasis on the importance of vaccines due to the COVID-19 virus situation, a new adjuvant substance has been developed that disguises itself as fake viral RNA to penetrate cells, activate the immune system, and enhance the effectiveness of vaccines. It can be easily and inexpensively mass-produced, and technology transfer for animal vaccine development has been completed, drawing attention as it can also be applied to human vaccines in the future.

The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology announced on the 25th that the research team led by Dr. Han Su-bong and Dr. Kim Mi-hyun from the Biomedical Research Division developed this new adjuvant.

Vaccines work on the principle of injecting viral antigens to trigger an immune response in the body, leading to the production of antibodies. However, the antigen injected is not a live complete virus but rather virus fragments, viral capsid proteins without RNA, or inactivated viruses.

This is because injecting a live complete virus carries the risk of viral RNA actually penetrating cells and replicating the virus. However, when viral proteins without RNA are injected, the receptors on cells that recognize external antigens (Toll-like receptors 7 and 8) may not recognize them well, causing the immune system to function poorly and resulting in fewer antibodies being produced. This reduces the vaccine's effectiveness.

To solve this problem and enhance vaccine function, the research team developed a fake RNA compound that can be recognized as viral RNA. When this compound is mixed with a vaccine and injected into the body, the cell’s Toll-like receptors mistake it for real viral RNA, activating the immune system to secrete innate and adaptive immune substances such as interferons and cytokines, helping to produce antibodies more effectively.

This compound is a low-molecular-weight compound, not a polymer compound that is difficult to produce, costly, and less stable, allowing for easy and inexpensive mass production.

The research team discovered a compound structure with excellent patentability and confirmed the outstanding immune activation effect of the candidate substance. When the compound was mixed with a vaccine and injected, cells recognized it as if it were real viral RNA, triggering immune responses involving interferons and cytokines. Additionally, high immune efficacy was confirmed in mouse experiments with influenza and foot-and-mouth disease vaccines.

The research team transferred the developed compound technology to Jungang Vaccine Research Institute Co., Ltd. at the end of February this year to first apply it to animal virus vaccines. They plan to conduct joint research for commercialization. After verifying the efficacy and safety of the adjuvant as an animal vaccine, they plan to seek companies and promote commercialization for application to human vaccines.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.