Mymetics Corp (MYMX)

[Phosphene]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julialederhofer

https://www.umcg.nl/NL/UMCG/Agenda/Promoties/Paginas/RSV-vaccin.aspx

RSV vaccine effective in mice
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Date: December 10, 2018
Time: 14:30
Location: Aula Academiegebouw University of Groningen
Address: Broerstraat 5 in Groningen
Promoter: prof.dr. JC Wilschut, prof.dr. ALW Huckriede
Julia Lederhofer: Toward a virosomal respiratory syncytial virus vaccine with a built-in lipophilic adjuvant: A vaccine candidate for the elderly and pregnant women.
To protect elderly and infants against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and thus prevent serious disease, RSV virosomes with built-in synthetic MPLA adjuvant may be used to inoculate elderly and pregnant women. This is the conclusion of Julia Lederhofer in her thesis, in which she shows that this vaccine can provide protection in mice.

RSV can cause bronchiolitis in young children. Approximately 28,000 children in the Netherlands receive this condition every year in the Netherlands, of whom around two thousand are admitted to the hospital. RSV can also cause serious illness in the elderly. In developing countries, where adequate health care is only limitedly accessible, the mortality rate in such patients is very high. Currently, only babies with a high risk of complications with RSV are preventively given an antibody. There is no adequate treatment method for the elderly at all. Development of a vaccine could reduce the burden of disease and mortality due to RSV.

Lederhofer uses a virosome in her research. A virus particle that resembles the RSV virus from the outside, but no longer contains the viral RNA. This means that the virus can no longer cause disease, but it is still recognized by the immune system. This had already been developed in the laboratory. Lederhofer optimized the formulation of the virosomes and examined their stability in the long term. She tested the vaccine in mice, where it indeed appears to offer protection against RSV. Further research is needed to determine whether this vaccine can also be used in pregnant women and the elderly.

Curriculum vitae
Julia Lederhofer (1985) conducted her research at the Department of Molecular Virology at the UMCG and Mymetics BV. Lederhofer is currently researching influenza vaccines at the National Institute of Health in Maryland in the United States. The title of her thesis is: Toward a virosomal respiratory syncytial virus vaccine with a built-in lipophilic adjuvant: A vaccine candidate for the elderly and pregnant women.