Viruses, Bacteria, Allergens: One Nasal Spray To Stop Them All

…and in the airways, fight them!

Scientists unveil a “universal vaccine”

Vaccines save millions of lives every year:

• WHO | Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years
• CDC | Fast Facts on Global Immunization: Vaccination benefits
• Lancet | Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization

Since vaccines are not without their popular misunderstanders, we have written a little about that, here: Vaccine Mythbusting

However, they have limitations. Most notably, because they work by showing your immune system a recognizable piece of a specific pathogen, such as the spike protein of COVID, this runs into difficulties when viruses mutate, so surface antigens change, which is why COVID boosters, annual flu shots, and similar vaccines sometimes need updating.

Researchers (Dr. Mengyun Hu et al.) found a way to create a broad protection against many respiratory threats.

How it does that, in technical terms: the formulation GLA-3M-052-LS+OVA combines toll-like receptor 4 and 7/8 ligands with ovalbumin to recruit memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells into your lungs and keep alveolar macrophages in a heightened defensive state.

Translating from sciencese: instead of targeting a specific antigen from one pathogen, the nasal spray boosts your lungs’ integrated innate and adaptive immune responses to provide broad protection.

Dr. Hu (what a cool name) and her team will be doing human trials soon, but the results so far from mouse studies are very promising:

• Against viruses: vaccinated mice enjoyed a 700-fold reduction in lung viral levels after SARS-CoV-2 exposure, avoided severe weight loss, and all survived*.
  • Broad spectrum antivirus vaccines have been explored already, but they only work against certain kinds of viruses, e.g: The Ultimate Booster: Winning The Biological Arms Race
• Against bacteria: vaccinated mice were also protected for about 3 months against Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii, both common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
  • On which note, since that kills many people, do check out: Pneumonia: Prevention Is Better Than Cure
• Against allergies: when exposed to house dust mite allergens, vaccinated mice developed a much weaker Th2 response (which in this context, is good) and maintained clear airways compared with unvaccinated mice.
  • This is interesting, especially if we also bear in mind: The Anti-Allergy Nasal Spray That Kills COVID & More

*This is a big difference from what happened in unvaccinated mice, because while the unvaccinated mice had initially healthy immune systems, those unvaccinated immune systems had no instructions about what to do, and thus:

❝The immune system becomes so ready and so alert that it can launch the typical adaptive responses—virus-specific T cells and antibodies—in as little as three days, compared with about 2 weeks in unvaccinated mice❞

~ Dr. Violetta Horton, professor of microbiology and immunology, and colleague of Dr. Hu collaborating on this study

If it’s successful in human trials:

• It’s expected to require just two nasal doses
• It could replace multiple seasonal respiratory vaccines
• It should seriously boost rapid protection during future pandemics

You can find the study itself, here: Mucosal vaccination in mice provides protection from diverse respiratory threats

Want to do more meanwhile?

You might want to check out: Beyond Supplements: The Real Immune-Boosters! ← most people don’t know these things and the huge difference they make

And for that matter: Why Some People Get Sick More (And How To Not Be One Of Them) ← for a very prophylactic approach

Take care!