A vaccine that protects against all types of flu could be ready within five years, according to scientists, following a “promising” animal experiment.
The influenza virus is continually mutating, so new vaccines are required each year to keep it at bay.
However, researchers in the United States stated that their “innovative” strategy targets a non-mutating portion of the virus.
An early testing in monkeys demonstrated that the vaccine technique, which was built based on a 100-year-old virus, produced “a robust immune response” against a current variation.
Prof. Jonah Sacha explains that despite over a century of evolution, the virus remains incapable of changing essential aspects of itself.
According to the researchers, their findings raise the possibility of a “one-and-done” vaccine that provides permanent immunity against an evolving pathogen.
Jonah Sacha, a professor at Oregon Health & scientific University in the United States, said: “It’s intriguing because, in most circumstances, this type of basic scientific research progresses the field very slowly; in 20 years, it might become something.
“This could actually become a vaccine in five years or less.”
Current flu vaccines target spike proteins, which protrude from the surface of the virus.
However, spike proteins can evolve to evade antibodies, which are created by the body’s immune system to protect against the virus.
Prof Sacha stated that the flu virus is “always evolving the next variant, and we’re always left to chase where the virus was, not where it’s going to be”.
The researchers employed a vaccination technology initially intended to combat HIV in their study, which was published in the journal Nature Communications.
It worked because the virus’s inner protein was very well preserved.
Professor Sacha
It mimics an infection by delivering a fragment of the flu virus’s genetic code to cells in the body via a harmless herpes virus known as cytomegalovirus (CMV).
The researchers explained that this vaccination platform is intended to target the virus’s core, which, unlike spike proteins, does not evolve over time.
The team tested the vaccine on 11 monkeys infected with H5N1, a bird flu virus that scientists fear has the potential to cause the next human pandemic.
However, the technology was based on a devastating virus from a century ago, which killed over 50 million people globally.
Six monkeys immunized against 1918 Spanish flu survived exposure to modern H5N1, according to the researchers.
They stated that uninfected monkeys in the control group who were exposed to the H5N1 virus died from the sickness.
Scientists stated that their strategy targets a specific sort of immune cell in the lungs known as effect or memory T cells, which are capable of recognizing non-evolving proteins in the virus’s core.
There is little doubt that we are on the threshold of the next generation of how we treat infectious diseases.
Professor Jonah Sacha
Prof Sacha explained that it worked because the virus’s inner protein was properly conserved.
“So much so, that even after almost 100 years of evolution, the virus can’t change those critically important parts of itself.”
According to the researchers, the discovery enhances the possibility of producing a vaccination against H5N1 in humans.
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According to Douglas Reed, an associate professor of immunology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cent-re for Vaccine Research in the United States, “Should a deadly virus such as H5N1 infect a human and ignite a pandemic, we need to quickly validate and deploy a new vaccine.”
According to the researchers, their vaccine technology, which has been licensed by immunology business Vir Biotechnology, might also be used to provide long-lasting immunity against other viruses, such as Sars-CoV-2, which causes COVID 19.
Professor Sacha stated, “It’s a massive sea change within our lifetimes.”
“There is no question we are on the cusp of the next generation of how we address infectious disease.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health in the United States funded the research.
