Intranasal vaccination of hamsters with a Newcastle disease virus vector expressing the S1 subunit protects animals against SARS-CoV-2 disease.

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has already claimed millions of lives and remains one of the major catastrophes in the recorded history. While mitigation and control strategies provide short term solutions, vaccines play critical roles in long term control of the disease. Recent emergence of potentially vaccine-resistant and novel variants necessitated testing and deployment of novel technologies that are safe, effective, stable, easy to administer, and inexpensive to produce. Here we developed three recombinant Newcastle disease virus (rNDV) vectored vaccines and assessed their immunogenicity, safety, and protective efficacy against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in mice and hamsters. Intranasal administration of rNDV-based vaccine candidates elicited high levels of neutralizing antibodies. Importantly, the nasally administrated vaccine prevented lung damage, and significantly reduced viral load in the respiratory tract of vaccinated animal which was compounded by profound humoral immune responses. Taken together, the presented NDV-based vaccine candidates fully protected animals against SARS-CoV-2 challenge and warrants evaluation in a Phase I human clinical trial as a promising tool in the fight against COVID-19.

World Society for Virology first international conference: Tackling global virus epidemics.

This communication summarizes the presentations given at the 1st international conference of the World Society for Virology (WSV) held virtually during 16-18 June 2021, under the theme of tackling global viral epidemics. The purpose of this biennial meeting is to foster international collaborations and address important viral epidemics in different hosts. The first day included two sessions exclusively on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. The other two days included one plenary and three parallel sessions each. Last not least, 16 sessions covered 140 on-demand submitted talks. In total, 270 scientists from 49 countries attended the meeting, including 40 invited keynote speakers.

Preclinical Evaluation of a Newcastle Disease Virus-Vectored Intranasal SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (preprint)

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of millions of people. Vaccination is a critical tool for the control of transmission; however, the recent emergence of potentially vaccine-resistant variants renders it important to have a range of vaccines types. It is desirable that vaccines are safe, effective, easy to administer and store, and inexpensive to produce. Newcastle disease virus (NDV), responsible for respiratory disease in chickens, has no pathogenic homologue in humans. We developed two types of NDV-vectored candidate vaccines, and evaluated them in a SARS-CoV-2 challenge in hamsters.  Vaccinations resulted in generation of neutralizing antibodies, prevented lung damage, and reduced viral load and viability. In conclusion, our NDV-based vaccine candidate performed well in a SARS-CoV-2 challenge and warrants evaluation in a Phase I human clinical trial. This candidate represents a promising tool in the fight against COVID-19.

Development and pre-clinical evaluation of Newcastle disease virus-vectored SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine candidate (preprint)

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of millions of people worldwide and threatens to become an endemic problem, therefore the need for as many types of vaccines as possible is of high importance. Because of the millions of doses required, it is desirable that vaccines are not only safe and effective, but also easy to administer, store, and inexpensive to produce. Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) is responsible for a respiratory disease in chickens. It has no pathogenic homologue in humans. NDV is recognized as an oncolytic virus, and its use in humans for oncological treatment is being evaluated. In the present work, we have developed two types of NDV-vectored candidate vaccines, which carry the surface-exposed RBD and S1 antigens of SARS-CoV-2, respectively. These vaccine candidates were produced in specific-pathogen-free embryonating chicken eggs, and purified from allantoic fluid before lyophilization. These vaccines were administered intranasally to three different animal models: mice, rats and hamsters, and evaluated for safety, toxicity, immunogenicity, stability and efficacy. Efficacy was evaluated in a challenge assay against active SARS-CoV-2 virus in the Golden Syrian hamster model. The NDV-vectored vaccine based on the S1 antigen was shown to be safe and highly immunogenic, with the ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in-vitro, even with an extreme dilution of 1/640. Our results reveal that this vaccine candidate protects the lungs of the animals, preventing cellular damage in this tissue. In addition, this vaccine reduces the viral load in the lungs, suggesting that it may significantly reduce the likelihood of transmission. Being lyophilized, this vaccine candidate is very stable and can be stored for several months at 4-8{degrees}C. In conclusion, our NDV-based vaccine candidate has shown a very favorable performance in the pre-clinical study, serving as evidence for a future evaluation in a Phase-I human clinical trial. This candidate represents a promising tool in the fight against COVID-19.

Holistic approach during a pandemic for healthy well-being

Currently, the entire globe is facing a pandemic 'COVID-19' and the numbers are rising exponentially. Unfortunately, along with the triple burden of malnutrition and many non-communicable diseases, Corona virus has knocked India's door. As it is don't know for how long this battle will continue, the present review is an attempt to highlight the importance of non-pharmacological approaches like a balanced diet, stress management, adequate sleep and physical activity to build up a strong immune system, as it reduces the complications in individuals who are already at nutritional risk and might get exposed to the infection. Globally, scientists are working to find potential vaccines to combat COVID-19, meanwhile, it must utilize this time window in building our immunity by adopting a healthy dietary and other lifestyle measures. Hence, it is the need of the hour to build up immunity by adopting a holistic approach as there is no nutritional magic pill, which can boost immunity instantly.