Steps Toward a Universal Flu Vaccine

Plasmoid writes "The NYTimes is reporting that scientists have starting developing what could turn out to be a 'universal' flu vaccine. They created antibody proteins that can neutralize different strains of the influenza virus, including the deadly H5N1 bird flu, the virus behind the 1918 epidemic, and common seasonal strains. These new antibodies target part of the virus that is shared between different strains and thus appear to be broadly effective. However, some experts question whether a universal vaccine of this kind is even possible, since the human body has been unable to come up with an antibody solution. An article on nature.com describes the work further."

Comments

Not only that, but

[jdpars]

There was a talk about this at TED. Turns out the same ideas of shared virus parts can be used to identify and diagnose, or even as this article suggests, cure various diseases very quickly.

Re:Not only that, but

[baboonlogic]

I believe, Joe DeRisi: Hunting the next killer virus, is the talk mentioned above. Definitely worth watching!

Re:vaccine even possible?

[interkin3tic]

So either evolution is perfect and has already done it or it can't be done?

Keep in mind that every single vaccine out there merely uses your natural immune system. All vaccines do is present the immune system with a target, then the immune system does it's work. That's it. Vaccines absolutely rely on the immune system. So yes, if the immune system absolutely can't make you immune to every flu virus, then we can't make a vaccine that could.

A non-vaccine based approach might work, like the antiviral cocktails used to treat AIDS, but that's horribly inefficient, would require constant medication, and could end up making superflu. Really the best solutions all end with priming the immune system to do the dirty work.

Re:Some Experts Question...

[Americano]

First, the researchers don't claim a universal anti-virus, simply a broad spectrum one.

You're right - the researchers don't make that claim at all.

Those nay-saying, have no lab data, those doing the research do. Its effective in animal studies and human studies will soon begin.

From TFA in Nature (emphasis mine):

The antibodies also give researchers clues about how to develop new vaccines. "This opens up the avenue of thinking about universal influenza vaccines, which has not been realistic before," says Peter Palese, an influenza expert at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York who was not involved in the work.

It seems to me like both sides of the disagreement over whether or not this could lead to a "universal" influenza vaccine are running their mouths without much data.

Re:Give me a break there, will ya?

[TempeTerra]

I was fortunate enough to be working with general practitioners during the bird flu scare, and between high school biology and the catch-up courses being run for the doctors about bird flu at the time I have a decent working knowledge of the subject.

In brief: please provide links for your paranoid delusions, I'd enjoy the read.

most of the affected people who got it were vaccinated, which also explains why the victims were mostly young adults, usually unaffected by these types of infectious diseases.

The flu variant believed to be responsible for the 1918 pandemic killed by causing a cytokine storm (wiki it yourself) - the host immune system overreacts and kills the host. Of course this is most effective against otherwise healthy people with a strong immune system that can really kick some ass... against their own body.

The so called bird flu is not inherently a virus either.

Yes it is. It's widely studied. All flu viruses are of avian origin and most of them can't even infect pigs and humans, the secondary carriers. The ones that can can be very deadly against humans because while human-specific diseases can't be deadly enough to kill their hosts often or the virus won't have anywhere to live, avian flu can persist as a minor annoyance in bird populations then leap out to massacre some humans from time to time.

there will be a forced vaccination of the whole population done in 2 phases (1 being optional with the suggestion that there is a limited supply of vaccine to maximize profits, second will be the forced vaccination of the whole population).

You suggest that the pharmaceutical industry has duped the entire medical profession into believing in a disease that doesn't even exist, and will inject the entire population with a potentially lethal disease causing agent, causing massive global economic collapse simply because they can get paid for every unit they produce? No comment.

Re:Weird logic

[swillden]

"However, some experts question whether a universal vaccine of this kind is even possible, since the human body has been unable to come up with an antibody solution. "

Using this logic we shouldn't have come up with vaccines for smallpox, polio or rabies either.

We were able to come up with vaccines specifically because the body can come up with an antibody solution. Those vaccines (all vaccines) work by stimulating the production of the same antibodies it would produce to fight an infection.

The challenge here is to develop a vaccine that causes the body to produce antibodies that it would NOT produce in response to an infection. This vaccine must cause the body to produce antibodies that are more general than those it would produce for any specific flu, but still specific enough that they won't attack anything beneficial.

I'm not a doctor. But I did take health in 9th grade.

Re:innoculation or vaccine?

[geekoid]

They have never been toxic, ever.
The mercury was about 3-5 Nano Grams with a half life of 4 days. Completely undetectable in 30 days.

Just an FYI