Sci Adv: Vaccine for type 1 diabetes-related viruses successfully tested in animal models

Introduction: The Cosage virus B (CVBs) is a common single-stranded RNA virus in humansIn the United States between 2014 and 2016, CVB infections accounted for nearly 10 percent of reported cases of enterovirusCVBs consist of six serotype CVB1-6, which in most cases are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms such as a cold or fluHowever, CVBs can also cause potentially life-threatening diseases, including encephalitis and aseptic meningitis, myocarditis and chronic dilated cardiomyopathy, pancreatitis, hand, foot and mouth diseaseBased on many observations, certain viral infections may play a role in the autoimmune attacks that cause type 1 diabetesResearchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute and their Finnish colleagues have developed a vaccine against these viruses in the hope that it will provide protection against type 1 diabetesThe study was published May 6 in the journal Science AdvancesAlthough an estimated 50,000 Swedes have type 1 diabetes (sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes), the cause of the disease is still unknownThe appearance of type 1 diabetes is related to genetic factors and environmental factorsOne of the factors thought to be important for type 1 diabetes is an infection caused by a very common set of enterovirusesThe subgroup being explored is the Cosage B (CVB) family, which consists of six strains that can cause the common coldHowever, CVBs can also cause more serious infections, such as myocarditis and meningitisBased on a number of scientific observations, one hypothesis is that CVBs play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes, which is characterized by autoimmune attacks on insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, and viral infections that may somehow trigger an attack by the immune systemepidemiological studies have shown that CVBs may be a contributing factor to type 1 diabetes, and years of blood sugar testing in children at genetic risk of type 1 diabetes have shown that CVBs may be a contributing factorAutopsy studies have also shown that CVBs may be linked to the development of type 1 diabetesHowever, this is still a hypothesis, as the link has yet to be confirmed, and it is a well-proven hypothesis among diabetes researchersKarolinska Institute researchers and colleagues from the Universities of Tampere and Jyvaskyla in Finland have developed a vaccine that can prevent six known CVB strainsThe vaccine was tested in different animal models and the results showed that it protected infected CVB mice from viral-induced type 1 diabetesThe CVB1-6 vaccine is safe and immune to in NOD mice (mice 5-9 weeks old)CVB1 - 6 vaccine protects mice from acute CVB1 and CVB4 infectionresearchers then tested the vaccine on rhesus monkeys, which are very similar to human genesIn these animals, the vaccine worked well and induced antibodies to fight CVB, suggesting that the vaccine could help fight the virusThe CVB1-6 vaccine is safe in rhesus monkeys and induces strong immunity to all six CVB serotypes"The findings provide important scientific support for ongoing clinical development projects aimed at testing similar commercial vaccines in humans," said Professor Heikki Hyoty, who is involved in clinical development at the University ofTampere"The project was implemented by an American pharmaceutical company in collaboration with a Finnish biotech companyassuming that the vaccine is safe in the initial clinical trials, the plan is to use the vaccine in children at genetic risk of type 1 diabetesIf the number of children with type 1 diabetes decreases after vaccination, or no one develops type 1 diabetes, CVBs can be confirmed as a trigger ingon, the researchers said"We hope these tests will show that the vaccine is effective for CVB infection and can be used in children,
and it would be great if we could prevent the type 1 diabetes cases we now suspect to be caused by the Cosage virus, although the exact number is difficult to estimate," said Malin Flodstrom-Tullberg, professor of type 1 diabetes at the Karolinska Institute's Hardinger Medical Department at the karolinska institute,At the same time, the vaccine can prevent myocarditis (which may be severe in both children and adults) and certain colds, such as those that are usually unable to go to school or to work