Annual flu vaccines protect against severe infection, but they vary in efficacy and may not match the most virulent strains of the season.
American Society for Microbiology Aug 23 2024 The reality of a universal flu vaccine, which would protect people from all strains, and ideally longer than a single season, remains elusive.
The researchers hope to launch human clinical trials within 1-3 years, said virologist Naoko Uno, Ph.D., who led the new study. "We want to make sure our vaccine can span multiple seasons, not just one, and protect against all the strains that affect humans," she said. Researchers in Ross' lab designed their new vaccine candidate using a methodology called COBRA, or Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigens. They began by downloading thousands of genetic sequences of pathogenic influenza strains, spanning multiple seasons, from an online database. Then they digitally analyzed those sequences to identify which amino acids-;the building blocks of proteins-;are conserved across viruses and seasons.
Those greatest hits included proteins from H1 and H3 types of influenza viruses, Uno said, but they also included proteins from H2, H5 and H7 viruses, which are strains against which most people don't have antibodies. Some of these have pandemic potential, Uno said. Past outbreaks of bird flu, or H5N1, have led to a high rate of human mortality, and in March 2024 the virus was found in dairy cattle in Texas. Since then, 4 people who work with cattle have been diagnosed.
Vaccine Antibodies Efficacy Immune Response Influenza Microbiology Ph Research Virology Virus
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