Universal Flu Vaccine
December 22, 2015 | Terry Sharrer
Last year’s influenza vaccine in the US was only 19% effective. The reason for that was that virologists targeted the wrong variation of the virus’ hemagglutinin protein, which actually is a common mistake. Researchers at the Scripps Institute, however, believe there is a better way to target influenza hemagglutinin—fixing on its stable “stem” rather than its variable “head.” In a masterful example of nanotechnology, the researchers concluded: “Our results establish a proof of concept—that elicitation of non-neutralizing antibodies by an HA stem-only nanoparticle vaccine can provide broad protection against severe disease and should be considered in strategies to develop universal influenza vaccines.” MORE
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