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 through 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 using machine learning that analyses past and current outbreaks to determine what is essential for viruses to survive.
A human test suggested that a coronavirus vaccine made using the technology is safe, and more than 200 people are set to be recruited for an expanded study.
Experts hailed the method as a “big paradigm change” from 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 in the UK and biotechnology company DIOSynVax, brings together features that are common to the whole family of viruses.
To achieve this, researchers gathered all available genetic sequence data on coronaviruses logged by surveillance programmes around the world to create a “super-antigen”.
“What that Covid pandemic taught us is how fast we can make vaccines, but we’re still using the old paradigm,” said Prof Jonathan Heeney of the University of Cambridge’s department of veterinary medicine.
“This is about making one vaccine that will get them all based on their relationships. 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 among 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.”
The first test, the results of which were published in the Journal of Infection, involved 49 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 50 who received the vaccine in Cambridge and Southampton, UK. It was administered as DNA vaccine through a microfluid jet.
This is a needle-free method that uses a thin, high-pressure stream of liquid to push vaccine blueprints directly into skin cells.
Researchers declared the jab safe and said it had caused an immune response to Sars-CoV 2 and Sars, as well as to related viruses that are carried by bats and could potentially jump to humans.
A previous study in animals also found that the jab sparked a strong immune response against a range of coronaviruses.
A second round to testing is expected to include “upwards of 200 or more people”, Prof Heeney said.
He voiced hope 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 said that, having attended the scenes of a lot of outbreaks during his career, the one that “really left a mark” was the West African Ebola epidemic between 2013 and 2016.
Another outbreak of Ebola is currently taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
“There are a lot of viruses out there, and once we know them, we start chasing them, but we have to change that paradigm,” Prof Heeney 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 research into a vaccine for bird flu, which Prof Heeney described as a “big global threat”.
“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,” he said.
“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, who led the first phase of tests, 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 at the National Institute for Health and Care Research, 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.”
The study was sponsored by University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
