They are developing a new approach to developing a universal and permanent flu vaccine.

A group of researchers has confirmed a new approach to development A universal flu vaccine that provides lifelong immunity.

A study published in Nature Communications shows that the vaccine also elicited “robust immune responses in non-human primates exposed to H5N1 avian influenza virus.

The vaccine was not based on the H5N1 virus, but primates were vaccinated against the H5N1 virus. 1918 flu virus, that has killed millions of people worldwide. A team led by Oregon Health and Science University (OSHU) in the US found that six out of eleven primates inoculated against the 1918 virus survived H5N1, while in a control group that was not vaccinated and exposed to the virus, all six died.

The study raises the possibility of developing a protective vaccine against H5N1 in humans and that in “five or ten years “a unique flu vaccine”, noted Iona Sasha, from OSHU and head of the study.

He new focus It uses a vaccine platform previously developed by OHSU scientists to fight tuberculosis and HIV, and is already being used in clinical trials against the virus that causes AIDS.

He method It involves introducing small fragments of the target pathogens into cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common herpes virus that infects most people throughout their lives and typically causes mild or no symptoms. The virus acts as a vector, specifically designed to induce an immune response from the body’s own T cells.

This approach differs from conventional vaccineswhich are designed to induce an antibody response directed against the most recent evolution of the virus, and which differ in the arrangement of proteins covering the outer surface.

Influenza is not a separate virus, it develops thanks to a protein in its shell. This is why vaccines change every year.

A type of T cell in the lungs known as effector memory T cells. They target the internal structural proteins of the virus, instead of its constantly mutating outer shell. The internal structure does not change much over time, giving T cells a fixed target to seek out and destroy any cells infected with old or newly emerging flu viruses.

To test their T-cell theory, the researchers developed a CMV-based vaccine. using the 1918 influenza virus as a template.

The team exposed vaccinated primates to fine aerosols containing the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Six of the eleven survived.

“It worked because the protein inside the virus was so well conserved,” so much so that even after nearly a century of evolution you can’t change these fundamental parts of yourself

he explained Sasha.

Inhalation of aerosolized H5N1 influenza virus triggers a cascade of events that can cause respiratory failure, but vaccine-induced immunity was sufficient to limit infection and lung damage, protecting the monkeys from this very serious infection. Sasha I think the platform can be “absolutely” useful against other mutant viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.