Project description DEENESFRITPL An alternative to vaccines for a widespread virus The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has infected 33 million people that includes most children under 2 years. Yet, there is no vaccine for this virus that kills 120 000 people annually. Researching a way to circumvent viral infection, the RSVTriVax project has worked on the use of epitope-focused immunogens that can be produced at low cost as an alternative to vaccine development. TriVax boosts subdominant functional antibodies, and trials on non-human primates have been successful and shown to be safe. TriVax is targeted towards pregnant women and the elderly, providing prevention and coverage at much lower cost to public health. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The development of a Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine is deemed a global health priority by the World Health Organization. Globally, RSV causes 33 million episodes of infection and up to 120,000 deaths annually. The most affected populations are pre-term infants, young children and the elderly. Several decades of intensive research are yet to yield a clinically approved vaccine. This failure is mostly attributed to sophisticated viral mechanisms that prevent the induction of protective antibodies (Abs). Using cutting-edge molecular design tools, we developed a novel vaccine candidate (TriVax) to focus immune responses in such key neutralization epitopes. TriVax is a cocktail composed of three epitope-focused immunogens mimicking three distinct neutralization epitopes targeted by potent neutralizing Abs. Our primary target populations are pregnant women (protection of pre-term infants) and elderly, where the challenge is to boost subdominant, neutralizing Abs elicited during previous natural infections. Recently, we showed that epitope-focused immunogens are exquisite at boosting subdominant functional Abs, and in this scenario, superior to the strongest competitor vaccine candidates. In a preliminary study in Non-Human Primates, TriVax showed great promise by eliciting robust neutralization on an RSV naïve cohort, suggesting a good safety profile and the potential to emerge as a competitive alternative for vaccine development. For manufacturing, epitope-focused immunogens are simple and stable molecules that can be produced at low cost. Overall, we propose a viable vaccine formulation to protect against an important pathogen which carries large financial burdens on public health systems. Thus, our proposal has an important societal and financial impact, and will provide compelling evidence for Trivax to boost neutralizing Abs in a close-to-human animal model, thereby taking an essential step to consolidate the commercial potential of our vaccine. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogyprimatologymedical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirologymedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologymedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2019-POC - ERC Proof of Concept Grant Call for proposal ERC-2019-PoC See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum Pilot Host institution ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE Net EU contribution € 150 000,00 Address BATIMENT CE 3316 STATION 1 1015 Lausanne Switzerland See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Vaud Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE Switzerland Net EU contribution € 150 000,00 Address BATIMENT CE 3316 STATION 1 1015 Lausanne See on map Region Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Vaud Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost No data
