Engineering the common cold to be a live-attenuated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Abstract

According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people in all age groups catch two or more “colds” per year, at least half of which are caused by human rhinoviruses. Despite decades of effort, there are no vaccines or drugs against rhinovirus infections and even social distancing measures that were effective in reducing the spread of the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, did not reduce the rate of rhinovirus detection. Fortunately, most rhinovirus strains are naturally attenuated in that they are not associated with serious illness, hospitalization or mortality. Instead, rhinoviruses are one of the most frequent viruses found in nasal swabs of asymptomatic, healthy people. Since rhinovirus infections cannot be avoided, a rational approach would be to engineer them for the benefit of their human hosts. Rhinovirus infections naturally induce robust mucosal and serum immune responses to all virus-expressed proteins. Several replication-competent, human rhinovirus vaccine vectors able to express protective antigens for other pathogens have already been designed and tested in animal models. With this strategy, the inevitable common cold would be able to induce immunity not just to a specific rhinovirus serotype but to other more pathogenic respiratory viruses as well. This article reviews existing rhinovirus vaccine vector technology and describes the characteristics that make live-attenuated rhinoviruses attractive vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic respiratory viruses in the future.

SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses in Human Olfactory Pathophysiology

“…Physical distancing seems to be not effective in reducing the transmission of this virus. But, it is essential to notice that rhinovirus infection is not associated with a significant rate of hospitalization or death [ 160 ]. Several researchers have demonstrated that daily dosing of 1 million IU of intranasal IFN-alpha gave 75–87% protection against rhinovirus infection [ 161 , 162 ].…”

Multiple microbial coinfections occurred during COVID-19 pandemic

“…It can be difficult to distinguish COVID -19 from other respiratory viral infections by looking only at the following the patient's symptoms. 34,51 COVID-19 shares symptoms with several other respiratory viruses, such as fever, cough, and sore throat. 32 This makes diagnosis more difficult and requires thorough testing for multiple viruses.…”

Indirect Dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 Live-Attenuated Vaccine and Its Contribution to Herd Immunity

“…Rhinoviruses are highly infectious in humans and cause the common cold with mild symptoms in most of the infected individuals. Their low pathogenicity and high contagion rate could make them suitable vectors for viral vaccines, such as for SARS-CoV-2 [ 206 ]. Another possibility is to develop LAVs vaccines based on a seasonal cold coronavirus with high homology to SARS-CoV-2.…”