A group of international scientists have progressed in two prototypes of a universal influenza vaccine, which are aimed to be affective against all the strains of the disease. To achieve this, the researchers are using epitopes T in the prototypes, and are studying haw they would act in humans through computational models.
The research, recently published in the journal Bioinformatics, is conducted by researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) in Spain, and Lancaster University and the University of Aston in the United Kingdom.
Influenza is an acute viral infection that spreads easily from one person to another. There are three types of seasonal influenza (A, B and C) and vaccination is the most effective way to prevent it, according with World Health Organization (WHO). However, as the different viral strains have a great capacity to mutate, the vaccine must be updated and administered each year.
Flu vaccines, like others, act ‘teaching’ the immune system fight the virus in case of future infections. During this process, the immune system recognizes and memorizes parts of the virus. However, flu virus mutates exactly those parts recognizable by the immune system.
“Therefore, we do not have a universal vaccine against influenza. So, every year, a specific one for the subtype of the virus that is expected to be prevalent has to be prepared,” Pedro Reche, one of the collaborators, said to Efe.
So the researchers decided to focus on small fragments of the virus that could be recognizable, but which do not mutate. So they decided to propose a universal vaccine formulation using epitopes T. These are small fragments of the virus capable of being recognized by T lymphocytes in leukocytes essential containment and elimination of viral infections.
T epitopes used in the preparation of these vaccines have been experimentally validated by independent research groups.
“Interestingly, although these epitopes are recognized by the human immune system, not everyone recognizes the same epitopes T” said Reche. “A key part of our work has been the use of computer models that predict which individuals could recognize a specific epitope.”
So far, they have managed to design two different formulations for universal vaccines, which have not been tested yet in clinical trials. The scientists are contacting different pharmaceutical companies to develop inoculations.
According to Reche, efficacy studies in animal models would be complicated, but it may not be necessary: T epitopes used in this study are capable of inducing immune responses in humans and could be tested directly in a clinical trial.
They calculate that the protection coverage of the vaccine would be 95% in the US population and between 88% and 97% in the rest of the world. The variation in these percentages is due to genetic differences among humans; in particular, variability is specifically caused by some immune response related molecules.
Source: Agencia ID
