Biologists have Created a Universal Influenza Vaccine
American molecular biologists have created and successfully tested experimental nanoparticles against all strains of influenza A virus that cause the most serious epidemics. The news is published in an article in Nature Communications magazine.
"Our vaccine consists of fragments of different virus proteins that are almost unchanged in the course of its evolution. For this reason, the immune response affects all strains of influenza, which is uncharacteristic for the usual seasonal vaccines, which are directed against that part of the virus that is most rapidly changing. Our vaccine has no such disadvantage, and in the future when clinical trials are completed, it will protect a person from flu for a long time, "said Ley Dunn, of the University of Georgia, in Atlanta.
Every year, flu epidemics takes thousands of lives away. Fighting the disease is complicated by the fact that this virus has three varieties - A, B and C. For this reason, it is difficult to predict which species will get the most prevalence in this or next year. In addition, the vaccine allows immunity to only one or several strains.
The most dangerous viruses belong to type A. Its varieties are divided into groups A1 and A2. To the first group is the swine virus, and the second to the bird flu.
Lew Dunn and his colleagues have made the first serious step towards creating a universal vaccine that protects us from all type A viruses. For this purpose, they have created nanoparticles consisting of several layers of fat and fragments of hemagglutinin, the protein armor of the virus that plays a key a role in its attachment to pulmonary cells.
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