Universal ‘Holy Grail’ flu jab could soon be available
Two teams of researchers have reported major progress towards creating a vaccine that could win the arms race with influenza, which continually mutates to dodge the immune system.
Both focused on the “stem” of a key component of the virus that remains unchanged in different strains, but is not easily targeted by the body’s defences.
Flu jabs are currently designed around the “head” of the haemagglutinin (HA) molecule that alters from year-to-year, making it necessary to keep updating the seasonal vaccine.
As well as being effective against seasonal flu, a universal vaccine would also prevent illness caused by other viral sub-types.
One group combined the HA stem with part of an iron-storing bacterial protein to create a star-shaped nanoparticle that triggered an immune response in mice and ferrets.
Most of the animals infected with a lethal dose of H5N1 bird flu survived after receiving the “nano-vaccine”, the scientists reported in Nature Medicine. The US researchers were led by Dr Barney Graham and Dr Gary Nabel, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland
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