A vaccine that provides protection from a broad spectrum of human rhinovirus serotypes.
Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the most common virus infecting humans, primarily impacting the nose, throat (pharynx) and sinuses and is typically attributed as the virus causing a “common cold.” HRV infections can lead to serious complications in immunocompromised, aged and young patients. HRV possesses a serious risk in asthmatics as 50% of acute asthma attacks in children are due to complications from a “cold.” A major hurdle in vaccine development for HRV is the existence of more than 100 serotypes of the virus. Specific documentation is required for each serotype regarding its clinical isolation during the production of a vaccine composed of multiple inactivated HRV serotypes. The identification of HRV serotypes that provide the most cross protection and a system to rapidly produce them could lead to an effective vaccine against HRV.
Dr. Marty Moore’s lab has developed a vaccine against a broad spectrum of human rhinovirus (HRV) serotypes. A BAC system was generated to produce HRV serotypes from a man-made plasmid rather than a clinical sample. This system allows for the genetic manipulation of the encoded HRV for the production of alternative serotypes or chimeric viruses composed of capsid proteins from various serotypes. These advances allow the production of a vaccine generated from pooled serotypes of inactivated HRV to provide a broad spectrum of protection from HRV.