The Philosophy

"The core of Capricorn's philosophy and technology behind vaccine development is strong believe, supported by immunology development over the last 15 years is creation of Influenza vectored vaccines tailored for induction of T-cell mediated immunity (CMI)."

Memory T cells induced by previous pathogens can shape susceptibility to and the clinical severity of subsequent infections. Next-generation vaccines that utilize T cells could potentially overcome the limitations of many vaccines that rely on antibodies to provide narrow, often subtype-specific protection.

The design and implementation of a T cell-inducing vaccine may not provide sterilizing immunity but could significantly better protect the individual from severe disease[1], reduce the length of infection, and potentially decrease transmission in the community[2]. This is particularly true for respiratory diseases, where circulating antibodies in an immunized animal cannot prevent the initial infection and the spread of the virus in the respiratory tract's epithelia.

Vaccines aiming to induce humoral immunity can assist in fighting the disease at advanced stages when the virus load is already substantial, and the deeper layers of the tissues are affected, resulting in symptoms such as weight loss. However, circulating specific antibodies to a pathogen, especially with respiratory infections, do not effectively reduce the virus load in the respiratory tract[3,4] or the production of the virus into the environment.

Seeding durable, effective T-cell memory (Trm) populations in the lung and upper respiratory tract is the best way to protect the vaccine's recipient from respiratory viruses.

Vaccines focused on T-cell immunity are generally more effective in protecting the recipient than those focused on inducing a strong humoral response[5].

Based on these views, we have developed a new, technologically unique platform for vaccine development.

References

1 Patel, M.M., York, I.A., Monto, A.S., Thompson, M.G., Fry, A.M., 2021. Immune-mediated attenuation of influenza illness after infection: opportunities and challenges. The Lancet Microbe 2, e715–e725. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00180-4

2 Deng, S., Liu, Y., Tam, R.C.-Y., Chen, P., Zhang, A.J., Mok, B.W.-Y., Long, T., Kukic, A., Zhou, R., Xu, H., Song, W., Chan, J.F.-W., To, K.K.-W., Chen, Z., Yuen, K.-Y., Wang, P., Chen, H., 2023. An intranasal influenza virus-vectored vaccine prevents SARS-CoV-2 replication in respiratory tissues of mice and hamsters. Nat Commun 14, 2081. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37697-1

3 Garcia-Knight, M., Anglin, K., Tassetto, M., Lu, S., Zhang, A., Goldberg, S.A., Catching, A., Davidson, M.C., Shak, J.R., Romero, M., Pineda-Ramirez, J., Diaz-Sanchez, R., Rugart, P., Donohue, K., Massachi, J., Sans, H.M., Djomaleu, M., Mathur, S., Servellita, V., McIlwain, D., Gaudiliere, B., Chen, J., Martinez, E.O., Tavs, J.M., Bronstone, G., Weiss, J., Watson, J.T., Briggs-Hagen, M., Abedi, G.R., Rutherford, G.W., Deeks, S.G., Chiu, C., Saydah, S., Peluso, M.J., Midgley, C.M., Martin, J.N., Andino, R., Kelly, J.D., 2022. Infectious viral shedding of SARS-CoV-2 Delta following vaccination: A longitudinal cohort study. PLoS Pathog 18, e1010802. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010802

4 Lai, J., Coleman, K.K., Tai, S.H.S., German, J., Hong, F., Albert, B., Esparza, Y., Srikakulapu, A.K., Schanz, M., Maldonado, I.S., Oertel, M., Fadul, N., Gold, T.L., Weston, S., Mullins, K., McPhaul, K.M., Frieman, M., Milton, D.K., 2023. Exhaled Breath Aerosol Shedding of Highly Transmissible Versus Prior Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants. Clinical Infectious Diseases 76, 786–794. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac846

5 Hassert, M., Harty, J.T., 2022. Tissue resident memory T cells- A new benchmark for the induction of vaccine-induced mucosal immunity. Front. Immunol. 13, 1039194. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1039194