Annual scientific breakthroughs list announced: the "most powerful" telescope in history with a numb

Science magazine just revealed its list of this year's scientific breakthroughs. NASA's Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was awarded the "Breakthrough of the Year for 2022". JWST provides us an unparalleled sight into our universe and its deep history, after 20 years of arduous research and development, an extravagant cost of more than $10 billion, and a 1.5 million-kilometer voyage.

In addition, nine breakthroughs, including progress in the development of a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), giant bacteria more than 5,000 times the size of other bacteria, and the oldest environmental DNA at 2 million years old, also made this year's list.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common respiratory virus that causes lung and respiratory tract infections and poses a serious threat to the life and health of infants, young children, and the elderly. RSV is a leading cause of respiratory illness in young children and its prevalence is comparable to that of influenza viruses.

In the post-SARS-CoV-2 pandemic era, RSV has recently demonstrated a tendency for multiple outbreaks, with the number of cases increasing in both the United States and Canada. Some experts believe this is due to the extensive seclusion of children during COVID-19, which prevented them from becoming infected with common illnesses. Epidemiologists are particularly afraid that the novel coronavirus, RSV, and influenza virus may all be circulating at the same time, resulting in a "tripledemic".

RSV was discovered in 1956, just a few years after the measles and mumps viruses. The first measles vaccine was licensed for use 9 years after the measles virus was identified, and the first mumps vaccine was approved for use 4 years later. However, 66 years later, there is still no mature and widely accessible RSV vaccine. This may soon change, since several RSV vaccine candidates have entered or are about to enter clinical trials. Pfizer, for example, recently announced that a novel RSV vaccine in development had an 81% effectiveness rate in children up to 90 days after birth.

In a recent clinical trial, Chang et al. demonstrated that RSV pre-fusion F protein induced higher levels of neutralizing antibodies and more activated memory B cells than post-fusion F protein. In the latest issue of Science Translational Medicine, Chang et al. compared the neutralizing ability of serum antibodies in volunteers immunized with RSV pre-F stable protein (DS-Cav1) to those immunized with post-F protein (MEDI7510) in an independent vaccine trial and found that RSV pre-F protein induced more efficient neutralizing antibodies than post-F protein immunogen, as well as more activated memory B cells.

Most RSV vaccines consist of the primary neutralizing immunogen of the virus—the fusion protein (F). In some RSV vaccines, the F protein is expressed in its native, functionally pre-fused pre-F form, which is sub-stable and transforms over time to its non-functional post-F form. Other RSV vaccines keep the pre-F form stable through mutations, although these mutations allow the F protein to retain antigenic sites that are induced and recognized by neutralizing antibodies.

The results of Chang et al. demonstrated and quantified the importance of using pre-F as a vaccine because of its ability to induce efficient neutralizing antibodies and activate memory B cells. It was also found that pre-F vaccination induced strong neutralizing antibodies against RSV subgroups RSV A and RSV B, mainly by binding to two unique pre-F protein antigenic sites.

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