Duke researchers have opened a new avenue in the attack against influenza viruses by creating a vaccine that encourages the immune system to target a portion of the virus surface that is less variable.
May 2 2024Duke University
Influenza strains are referred to by a shorthand code, H5N1 for example, that describes which flavors of two particular surface proteins it carries. The H , is hemagglutinin, a lollipop-shaped protein that binds to a receptor on a human cell, the first step toward getting the virus inside the cell. The N is neuraminidase, a second protein that enables a newly made virus to escape the host cell and go on to infect other cells.
Flu shots -- and immune systems -- tend to target the bulb-like "head" of hemagglutinin rather than the stalk. But the details of that head region also change constantly, creating an arms race between vaccine design and viruses. The stalk, by comparison, changes much less. Because of the broad variety of head conformations being presented to the immune system and the relative consistency of the stalks, these vaccines produced more antibodies to the stalk portion of hemagglutinin in response. "The opportunity for the immune system to see that over and over and over like it needs to is compromised because there's diversity there," Heaton said.
Antibodies Antigen Cell H5N1 Immune Response Immune System Immunity Influenza Medicine Protein Research Vaccine Virus
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