Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INO) announced Wednesday that preclinical testing of a DNA synthetic vaccine for the virulent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus or MERS induced robust and durable immune responses, demonstrating the potential for a SynCon DNA vaccine to prevent and treat this deadly virus.
According to the company, in this study, DNA vaccine constructs targeting multiple MERS antigens were generated using Inovio's SynCon vaccine platform. These SynCon constructs were administered via Inovio's CELLECTRA electroporation-based delivery technology. The vaccine constructs were observed to induce strong neutralizing antibodies and broad CD8+ T cells in mice. These findings are vital given the importance of neutralizing antibodies in preventing infection and the role T cells play in clearing infection by killing cells that harbor the virus.
To begin the study, a consensus MERS "spike" protein vaccine construct was created based on multiple strains of the MERS virus. Inovio's MERS DNA vaccine was immunogenic in mice and seroconversion, or the development of detectable specific antibodies in the blood as a result of immunization, was observed in all animals, the company said.
In addition, the antibodies generated by the vaccine in 100% of mice (20 of 20) were able to neutralize or completely block actual infection of MERS virus in the cells, demonstrating the protective potential of this vaccine. In contrast, none of the unvaccinated mice in the control group (10) generated neutralizing antibodies.
The company noted that the researchers also observed that vaccination was highly T-cell immunogenic, generating robust and broad T cell responses as extensively analyzed by the standardized T cell ELISPOT assay. The vaccine produced robust CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses against multiple epitopes of the MERS spike protein. This increased diversity and magnitude of cellular responses may be critical for effectively mitigating MERS infection.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS is a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. MERS appears to have been transmitted from an "animal reservoir" to humans but human to human transmission has also been confirmed. The virus has not been shown to spread in a sustained way in communities, but the situation is still evolving. Like SARS, which infected 8,000 people and was fatal in nearly 10% of cases, MERS appears to cause a severe lung infection. MERS differs in that it also causes rapid kidney failure and its extremely high death rate has caused serious concern among global health officials.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.