Recently-formed Rokote Laboratories Finland is developing an intranasal vaccine against COVID-19 utilising specialised gene transfer technology. The company, which has emerged from University of Eastern Finland (UEF) and University of Helsinki (UHEL), is currently seeking investment to support the further development and marketisation of the vaccine, with human trials hoped to take place within the next few months.

WHY IT MATTERS

The gene transfer technology foundational to the vaccine is developed at UEF by Rokote’s own Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala. A cloned DNA strand inside a safe adenovirus carrier incites the nasopharyngeal cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 virus protein, the virus that causes COVID-19. The vaccine does not carry any of the actual virus but rather triggers an immune response in the body.

This method of gene therapy has been used successfully in clinical trials treating certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases. The vaccine itself, which began development in spring 2020, has also proved effective in preliminary in vivo studies with animals.

As COVID-19 is transmitted through the airways, the team assert that a nasally-administered vaccine should induce a wider immune response than injection by needle. Ylä-Herttuala explains: "Vaccines injected intramuscularly produce IgG (immunoglobulin G) antibodies in the bloodstream, but nasal vaccines also produce an IgA response that protects mucous membranes. We assume that this can also prevent those who have received the vaccine from transmitting the virus.”

It also only requires a single dose.

This follows a 2016 NCBI report, which delineated some of the advantages of intranasal vaccines. The authors, Helmy Yusuf and Vicky Kett of Queen’s University, Belfast, noted: “Nasal delivery offers many benefits over traditional approaches to vaccine administration. These include ease of administration without needles that reduces issues associated with needlestick injuries and disposal.”

Rokote also argue that although there is already an ongoing vaccination programme, new technologies should be developed to protect against new strains on the virus, particularly as current vaccines are exhibiting varying effectiveness against emerging mutations.

Professor of Virology at UHEL and Rokote, Kalle Saksela, said: “Even if we were able to vaccinate the entire population, at least people in medical risk groups will still need new vaccines against new variants in the upcoming years […] Our vaccine already takes into account the most important variants, i.e. the South African, Brazilian and the UK one. There will certainly be a demand for this type of vaccine.”

THE LARGER PICTURE

A slew of nasal-delivery vaccines are being developed across the world, with clinical testing taking place in the UK, China, India and the US.

These are not the only examples of a nasally-administered defence against COVID-19. In January 2021, human trials began in the UK for a nasal spray designed to kill the virus before it reaches a person’s lungs. The spray uses nitric oxide, a naturally occurring nanomolecule in the body that is proven to kill 99.9% of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

ON THE RECORD

Rokote team member Pasi Kemppainen addressed the local benefit of this developing vaccine, including the potential for vaccine self-sufficiency: "The vaccine can be manufactured in considerable quantities here in Kuopio and, in the long term, it can also be licensed outside Europe. The current focus is, of course, on the COVID vaccine, but the same method can also be used to develop vaccines against other viruses.”

Yusuf and Kett noted in the NCBI report the potential for nasal vaccine delivery: “The human mucosal immune system is large and specialised in performing inspection for foreign antigens to protect the surfaces themselves and of course human body interior. Since most infections affect or start from mucosal surfaces, using a mucosal route of vaccination is of great interest and provides a rational reason to induce a protective immune response. Nasal delivery of vaccine offers an easily accessible route to the immune system.”