AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine Delivers Strong Immune Response, Study Confirms

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, AZD1222, currently being evaluated in phase 3 global trials, delivers a strong immune response, according to a new UK study.

Researchers at the University of Bristol used genetic sequencing and protein analysis to directly check the instructions introduced by the vaccine within human cells, allowing them to confirm that the vaccine performs exactly as programmed.

AZD1222 uses a modified adenovirus to present the immune system with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, spurring the body to generate neutralizing antibodies and T-cells against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“We are able to confirm that the genetic instructions underpinning this vaccine …. are correctly followed when they get into a human cell,” said David Matthews, the research team’s lead researcher.

“The study confirms that large amounts of the coronavirus spike protein are produced with great accuracy, and this goes a long way to explaining the success of the vaccine in inducing a strong immune response,” said Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, who is leading the UK’s AZD1222 trial in a collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Funding for the Bristol study, which was published on the pre-print database Research Square and has not yet been peer reviewed, came from two UK agencies and the FDA.

Read the pre-print study report here: bit.ly/2HrZ3jo. — Jason Scott