Scientists say they have found a gene which may play a key role in making flu vaccines effective.
The Swiss researchers say variants in the gene IL-28B determine how the immune system responds to the vaccine.
The finding could mean the vaccine being combined – for most people – with drugs designed to block the gene.
The researchers found a minority of people have a variant of the gene, the minor G allele, which makes them more likely to have a successful flu vaccine.
The research at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and the University of Alberta, Canada, involved a study of nearly 200 transplant patients, receiving immune system suppression drugs.
Just seven of those had two copies of the minor G version of the gene and 54 had one copy.
Reporting in PLoS Pathogens, the researchers, led by Adrian Egli, say they tested their findings on 49 healthy volunteers. Out of these at least 21 carried at least one copy of the minor G variant.
They write: “Blockage of the IL-28B receptor could offer a novel strategy to boost the antibody response to influenza vaccine and others, thus opening up a new avenue for developing novel vaccine adjuvants and immunotherapeutic drugs.”
PLoS Pathogens 11 December 2014 [abstract]
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