🤧 The first steps towards a universal influenza vaccine

• Promising new developments in influenza vaccine research.
• Challenges include the rapid mutation of the influenza virus and our immune system’s response.
• New vaccine candidates show the ability to overcome these hurdles.

The search for a more effective influenza vaccine is making progress, despite complex challenges posed by the rapid mutation of the influenza virus and the complexity of human immunology. He writes Wired.

Influenza’s tendency to constantly mutate is a major obstacle to vaccine development. Every year, new vaccines are formulated based on circulating strains, but their effectiveness varies widely, influenced by the ability of the virus to change over time. This has led to a concerted effort to develop a more universal influenza vaccine, one that remains effective despite mutations of the virus.

Clear progress

A candidate developed by the National Institutes of Health is currently in phase 1 clinical trials, while other candidates from Moderna and teams at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania have shown promising results. It represents a combination of engineering and scientific innovation, using advanced viral tools.

An ideal universal vaccine would not only be more effective against a wider range of influenza strains, but would also provide protection for a longer period. The dream is also to cover pandemic viruses, which differ significantly from the usual mutations of the influenza virus.

Explores different strategies

Researchers are exploring different strategies to overcome these challenges. Some focus on presenting multiple copies of the influenza virus’s foreign proteins to the immune system, while others, like Peter Bales’ team at Mount Sinai, create chimeric viruses to expose less diverse virus components to the immune system.

Moderna’s approach, which uses mRNA technology, involves formulating vaccines that stimulate the immune system to produce antigens and then developing antibodies against them. This approach, combined with the inclusion of additional influenza virus proteins, may represent steps toward a more universal influenza vaccine.

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News Tip: Thomas Walgren