Coronaviruses roadmap:
Vaccines
Research roadmap for coronavirus vaccine development
Download 202402 Draft Coronavirus Vaccine research roadmap Final18
Challenge models
Next steps
- 17 Host-pathogen interactions
- 17A Entry
- 17B Replication
- 17C Persistence/ clearance
- 16 Identity of mechanisms of protection
- 16A Antibody response
- 16B Cell-mediated immunity
Challenge models
Research Question
- Develop optimal challenge models to understand disease dynamics, transmission, and immune responses in animals to improve vaccines and treatments
Research Gaps and Challenges
- Developing challenge models that accurately represent how different species react to coronavirus infections in terms of immune response, viral clearance, and immunopathology
- Creating a standardized challenge model that can be applied to multiple species – there may already be good models available, but there is a lack of tools/assays for good readouts of them. Creating challenge models that can effectively evaluate vaccine efficacy in diverse species, given differences in immune system function, viral evolution, and vaccine response. Is there an available bat challenge model?
- Risk of coronaviruses mutating in animal hosts and generating new variants with potential zoonotic spillover or enhanced transmission
Solution Routes
- Standardized challenge models that allow easy comparative vaccine performance study
- Standardizing certain aspects of the challenge model (e.g., virus dose, route of administration) while adapting others (e.g., species-specific endpoints and biomarkers)
- More cross-species vaccine trials and multi-pathogen vaccines that target conserved viral components across species
- Research into alternative or more representative animal models, including genetically modified animals (bovinized or porcinized mice) or organ-on-a-chip technologies
- Developing safe, field-compatible challenge models that can be performed without spreading the virus into animal populations or ecosystems
Dependencies
- More research into the immune responses of various species is needed, particularly in wildlife species that are less well studied. Cross-species studies that explore viral infection patterns in a variety of animals are necessary to determine which species are susceptible and the disease progression in these species
Projects
What activities are planned or underway?
Differential susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 in animals : Evidence of ACE2 host receptor distribution in companion animals, livestock and wildlife by immunohistochemical characterisation
Planned Completion date 26/07/2021
Participating Country(s):
Netherlands
Veterinary Biocontained facility Network for excellence in animal infectiology research and experimentation
Planned Completion date 28/02/2023
Participating Country(s):
Europe