An experimental vaccine against 20 flu subtypes has provided broad protection against deadly strains of the virus, and is expected to be used as a preventative measure against future pandemics of the disease, the study released this Thursday shows.
“The idea is to have a vaccine that gives people a baseline level of immune memory for different flu strains so that when the next flu pandemic hits, there will be much less illness and death.”said microbiologist Scott Hensley of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, United States.
In this peer-reviewed study published Thursday in the journal Science, scientists used the same messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology used in Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 .
According to researchers at the North American Institute, animal tests have already shown that the vaccine works “drastically reduced the signs of illness and protected them from death”even when exposed to flu strains other than those used in vaccine production.
However, research does not predict that this vaccine will provide “sterilizing” immunity that completely prevents viral infections, but rather that it will elicit a memory immune response that can be “quickly recalled and adapted to new pandemic virus strains, significantly reducing severe illness and death”🇧🇷
“It will be similar to first-generation mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, which targeted the original Wuhan strain of the coronavirus”explained Scott Hensley, recalling that against later variants, such as Ómicron, the original vaccines do not completely block infections, but provide lasting protection against cases of more serious illness and death.
In mice, the experimental vaccine produced high levels of antibodies, which remained elevated for at least four months, and had a strong response to all 20 subtypes of influenza, the results of the study from the US Center for Biomedical Research show.
In addition, the researchers saw that the antibody response persisted in the mice “strong and broad”whether or not the animals were exposed to the flu virus before being vaccinated.
Scott Hensley’s team is now designing human clinical trials and predicts that, if successful, the vaccine “useful for inducing long-lasting immune memory against all subtypes of influenza in people of all ages, including children”🇧🇷
Influenza viruses can circulate in birds, pigs and other animals, and pandemics can start when one of these strains jumps to humans and acquires mutations that improve adaptation to new hosts.
Source: DN
