Revolutionary new treatment and vaccine for flu and coronaviruses - and it only requires one dose

A team of researchers have created a new treatment and vaccine for flu and other coronaviruses .

The University of Houston led research has found two new methods for preventing and treating respiratory viruses . The group from the lab of Navin Varadarajan, M.D. Anderson Professor of William A. Brookshire Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has published two consecutive papers on the development of a NanoSTING.

The nasal spray works as a broad-spectrum immune activator and works to control infection from multiple respiratory viruses. Meanwhile, NanoSTING-SN is a pan-coronavirus nasal vaccine which protects from infection and disease by all members of the coronavirus family.

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The specially formulated NanoSTING uses tiny droplets of fat which deliver the immune-boosting formula cGAMP. The substance prompts cells in the body to be on high alert and prevent any attacks from respiratory viruses.

Varadarajan says in the report: "Using multiple models, the team demonstrated that a single treatment with NanoSTING not only protects against pathogenic strains of SARS-CoV-2 but also prevents transmission of highly transmissible variants like the Omicron variants. Delivery of NanoSTING to the nose ensures that the immune system is activated in the nasal compartment and this in turn prevents infection from viruses."

Meanwhile, first author and postdoctoral associate, Ankita Leekha reported: "Our results showed that intranasal delivery of NanoSTING, is capable of eliciting beneficial type I and type III interferon responses that are associated with immune protection and antiviral benefit."

NanoSTING is also reportedly effective against Tamiflu-sensitive and resistant strains of influenza, which emphasizes the possibility of it being used as a broad-spectrum therapeutic. Leekha said: "The ability to activate the innate immune system presents an attractive route to armoring humans against multiple respiratory viruses, viral variants and also minimizing transmission to vulnerable people.

"The advantage of NanoSTING is that only one dose is required unlike the antivirals like Tamiflu that require 10 doses." The authors note that NanoSTING is complementary to vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and antivirals.

While there are several vaccines available for SARS-CoV-2, the virus is constantly evolving meaning the vaccines also need to be consistently updated, with current vaccines offering limited protection against transmission of SARS-CoV-2. However, NanoSTING has the ability to protect against multiple coronaviruses and variants.

The intranasal vaccine has multi-antigen capabilities and eliminates virus replication in the lungs and the nostrils. Varadarajan reported: "Using multiple preclinical models, the team demonstrated that the vaccine candidate protects the primary host from disease when challenged with highly pathogenic variants.

"Significantly, the vaccine also prevents transmission of highly transmissible variants like the Omicron variants to vaccine-naïve hosts." The report shows that the nasal vaccine provided 100% efficacy in preventing transmission of the Omicron VOCs to unvaccinated hosts.

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Leekha said: "The ability to protect against multiple coronaviruses and variants provides the exciting potential towards a universal coronavirus vaccine. The ability to prevent infections and transmission might finally end this cycle of onward transmission and viral evolution in immunocompromised people."

A collaborative team at UH including Xinli Liu, College of Pharmacy and Vallabh E. Das, College of Optometry along with Brett L. Hurst of Utah State University and consultation from AuraVax Therapeutics, a spinoff from Varadarajan's Single Cell Lab at UH, which is developing NanoSTING conducted the research.

Both articles are published in Nature Communications with one titled "An intranasal nanoparticle STING agonist protects against respiratory viruses in animal models," and the second called "Multi-antigen intranasal vaccine protects against challenge with sarbecoviruses and prevents transmission in hamsters."