Study holds hope for revolutionary flu vaccine, OHSU researchers say – The Lund Report

A new vaccine approach

Sacha told The Lund Report that his interest in improving the vaccine was sparked by his then 4-year-old son being so sickened by H1N1 swine flu in 2014 that he required hospitalization. His family had been vaccinated against the flu, but it didnt protect them against the strain of the virus he picked up while traveling to a conference in Australia, he said.

That got my mind turning, Sacha said. Maybe we should find a different way to vaccinate against influenza. Because these current vaccines that we use, they change every year and theyre clearly kind of a guess based on what (flu) is going to come out.

Currently, annual flu shots are formulated in a manner intended to anticipate how the virus will evolve and trigger antibodies to fight it. Their effectiveness varies year by year and wanes as the virus changes.

Thats because traditional vaccines are keyed toward proteins on the exterior of the virus, which continuously evolve and mutate.

Sofor years, researchers at a variety of institutions have pursued whats called a universal flu vaccine, one that could combat even newer variants of the virus over a persons lifetime with a single inoculation.

The OHSU researchers are working on a version that harnesses the cytomegalovirus, a common herpes virus related to Chickenpox that usually results in mild or no symptoms, but is long-lasting.

The cytomegalovirus provokes an immune response from the bodys T cells, which target the virus internal proteins, rather than the rapidly evolving ones on its exterior.

Thats why researchers were excited by the studys indication of effectiveness for a vaccine based on a 1918 version of the flu, even if the test involved monkeys, not humans.In the universitys statement, Sacha said the vaccine worked because the virus interior protein has been well preserved even after almost 100 years of evolution.

Although just six of the 11 inoculated monkeys survived, Sacha said the trial was successful considering that the monkeys were given a vaccine geared toward a 100-year-old flu strain and then exposed to H5N1, which he called one of the most pathogenic viruses known.

We as humans would never take those odds for a vaccine, but against a virus thats this wicked, its pretty good, he said. Its a start. We have to do better if we are ever going to go forward.

Sacha said future trials will use a version of the vaccine optimized for more current flu strains. The vaccine would then go to clinical trials on humans, which he said could be done fairly quickly because there are testing sites that use healthy volunteers.

Sacha said an earlier experimental HIV vaccine developed by OHSU researchers laid the groundwork for the technology used in the flu vaccine.

Follow this link:

Study holds hope for revolutionary flu vaccine, OHSU researchers say - The Lund Report