Universal Flu Vaccine Effective in Animals
- By BSTQ Staff
In a recent study, researchers tested a new universal flu vaccine containing nanoparticles created using hemagglutinin (HA), one of the major antigenic proteins in a flu virus’s coat, and ferritin, an iron-transporting protein that naturally forms spherical clusters. When injected, the nanoparticles induced levels of anti-flu antibodies 34 times higher in mice and 10 times higher in ferrets compared with a traditional vaccine. Gary Nabel, now at Sanofi, who led the work in his former lab at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), believes the results are because the HA molecules are much less densely packed on the nanoparticles than those on a real virus, and are not hidden by other coat proteins. “The immune system gets a better look at them,” he explains.
Created by NIAID team member Masaru Kanekiyo, the nanoparticles infused HA and ferritin in such a way that the complexes automatically assembled into a structure with a 24- piece ferritin core from which protruded eight three-piece HA spikes, mimicking the natural HA spikes in the flu virus coat. “We created an entirely new molecule that hasn’t been made before,” Nabel says. “What’s cool is that the whole thing self-assembles.” Under the microscope, the nanoparticles look like simple jacks with eight spikes jutting out of a central ball. They are manufactured in the lab without having to grow real viruses in eggs or cell cultures, and they require fewer updates because they induce the production of antibodies that neutralize a wider range of flu strains. They may even protect against strains of the flu that have not yet emerged.
The study was published on Nature’s website on May 22.
