Thread by @nanogenomic

#SARSCoV2 There are several kinds of #vaccines, whereby all share the goal of generating adaptive #immunity via 1) #antibodies via B cells, and 2) T-cell receptors (#TCRs) via T cells:

1) live-attenuated, where you produce an actual #virus in an egg or cell line

2) #recombinant, where you introduce #DNA into yeast, bacteria, or cell lines — you produce pieces of the #virus #proteins, then either administer them as-is or typically by linking them to immunogenic substrates like albumin, BSA and KLH

3) #DNA and #RNA based vaccines — you inject the patient with DNA or RNA encapsulated in a nanoparticle or virus, such as the Oxford adenovirus vaccine that produces coronavirus pieces, or Moderna’s RNA delivering nanoparticle vaccine that produces the coronavirus “spike” protein

4) synthetic #peptide #vaccines — where you produce immunogenic fragments of a virus using peptides that are much smaller than the virus; this is the approach we are taking at Ligandal, where these peptides also mimic the virus binding to the cell so you can use it as an antidote

Once you have made a #vaccine, you can choose to introduce different adjuvants to increase immunogenicity and cause the innate and antigen-presenting immune system to “freak out” locally to the injection, which can help engage more cells for adaptive immunity.