New hope for universal vaccine for influenza
Friday February 3rd, 2012
Chemicals found inside flu viruses could pave the way for the development of a universal vaccine for the infection.
The finding, made by researchers at the University of Southampton, University of Oxford and Retroscreen Virology Ltd, hope such a vaccine would offer people immunity against all strains of the disease, including seasonal, avian, and swine flu.
The team recruited healthy volunteers who were infected with the influenza virus and then closely monitored in a sterile isolation unit.
Blood samples were taken at regular intervals to establish how their immune systems responded to the viral infection.
The immune systems produced various types of T-cells, which are part of the immune system that kills both viral particles, and cells infected with viral particles. The T-cells responded to peptides associated with the internal structures of the influenza viruses.
External structures of influenza virus mutate very rapidly and create a new strain of virus, but the internal structures, which are found in all strains of flu virus, change very slowly over a long period of time.
It means a vaccine that targets the peptides may provide immunity against all strains of influenza, says Dr Tom Wilkinson, senior lecturer in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton, who led the study.
“Most influenza vaccines only protect us against known influenza strains by creating antibodies in the blood but the influenza virus has the ability to rapidly change itself and new strains can emerge which rapidly spread across the globe by escaping this immunity,” he says.
“We have found that there is an important role for T-cells that recognise the flu virus, which if harnessed could protect against most or even all strains of seasonal and pandemic flu.
“Through this discovery we hope to improve vaccines for future strains of influenza; and potentially protect against the next pandemic. However there is more to do to translate these findings into new approaches to treatment.”
Professor Sir Andrew McMichael, director of the Medical Research Council Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University said vaccines that stimulate a T-cell response might be an option, but more research was needed.
The study is published in Nature Medicine.
Tags: Flu & Viruses | UK News
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