QIMR’s global breakthrough in vaccine against MS

Scientists at Queensland’s QIMR Berghofer have developed a vaccine candidate to protect against a debilitating incurable disease.

QIMR Berghofer’s Professor Rajiv Khanna

Queensland scientists have made a world-first breakthrough in the decades-long quest to eradicate the devastating disease multiple sclerosis.

QIMR Berghofer has developed a cutting-edge vaccine candidate that offers durable and potent protection against the Epstein–Barr virus in preclinical models — the virus that is the leading cause of MS.

The researchers’ goal is to eventually roll out a vaccine to young people in the same manner as the human papillomavirus virus vaccine.

More than 33,000 Australians are living with MS, and numbers have soared by 30 per cent in recent years.

Symptoms include debilitating fatigue, loss of mobility, pain and brain fog.

Lead author Vijayendra Dasari said it was rewarding to see so many years of research showing success.

“QIMR Berghofer has been researching the role of EBV in disease and cancer for decades.

It is a really proud moment for us to see all of this work coming together, with this vaccine now heading towards the next important stages of development,” Dr Dasari said.

Professor Rajiv Khanna, who led the development of the vaccine, said the study shows the vaccine could provide effective, long-term protection against EBV.

Paralympian Janine Watson has MS

EBV is a member of the herpes virus family. It is carried by around 95 per cent of the population but most people are unaware of the virus lying dormant. Infection usually

occurs in early childhood causing very mild symptoms. However, in some people EBV can lead to severe illness. Those who catch the virus later in life as teens or young adults can develop infectious mononucleosis, or glandular fever, which is a major risk factor for MS and some cancers.

Brisbane Paralympian Janine Watson, 42, who was diagnosed with MS at aged 26, told The Courier-Mail that the QIMR breakthrough was exciting and gave her hope that she may be in the last generation of Queenslanders to live with MS.

“So many young people are being diagnosed with this awful disease, and it would be amazing to have a vaccine that staves it off,” Watson said.

“It is a progressive disease, and as time passes I find I am able to do less.

“I was told my life expectancy would be 40, so I could say I am two years old now.”

Watson won a bronze medal in taekwondo in Tokyo 2020.

Professor Khanna said it was his ultimate goal to bring an end to MS.

The research paper has been published on Wednesday in the publication Nature Communications