Theflu acould containthe key to a universal vaccine, as suggested by a study by the University of Chicago and Emory University School of Medicine published in the journalJournal of Experimental Medicine. Its authors have discovered that several patients infected with the 2009 influenza A strain developed antibodies that protect against a wide variety of influenza strains. According to Jens Wrammert, co-author of the research, the results “show thatinfection with the 2009 pandemic flu strain could induce highly protective antibodiesseen only rarely after seasonal flu infections or flu shots. “
To reach this conclusion, the scientists studied blood samples taken 10 days after the onset of symptoms from nine patients who had been infected with the2009 influenza A (H1N1). The analysis identified leukocytes that produced antibodies against the influenza virus, and from which genes were isolated to produce 86 antibodies in cell culture. The researchers then evaluated which strains of flu these antibodies reacted against, and found up to 5 antibodies that reacted to all strains of seasonal H1N1 flu from the past decade, in addition to the? Spanish flu? of 1918 and the avian H5N1. These isolated antibodies could guide researchers in their efforts to designa vaccine that provides long-lasting protection against a variety of flu viruses.
“The result is something like the Holy Grail of flu vaccine research,” concludes Patrick Wilson, co-author of the paper. “It shows how to produce a single vaccine that could potentially provide permanent immunity to all flu,” he adds.
SPECIAL VACCINES
