Researchers one step closer to universal flu vaccine

The findings come at a time when the Southeast has been hit hardest by flu activity so far this season, with five flu-related deaths reported in Georgia since October.

At the study’s outset, scientists hoped to use antibodies from patients who had recovered from the 2009 H1N1 flu to develop a treatment for those who became severely ill from the new strain.

In the process, they identified five antibodies that could bind with all seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the past decade, the “Spanish flu” that caused a worldwide epidemic in 1918 and a potentially lethal strain of bird flu.

The findings came as a surprise, said Patrick Wilson, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. “Nature may have given us something that is one step closer” to a universal vaccine, he said.

Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or federal stimulus, the study looked at nine patients recruited from Emory’s Hope Clinic. They ranged in age from 21 to 45 and suffered from mild to life-threatening cases.

Flu strains are constantly changing, which is why a new vaccine must be developed every year, Wilson said. Annual vaccines cover three strains, including H1N1.

The flu virus has two main parts: a “head” that varies frequently and a “stalk” that acts as a backbone of sorts and is more constant from strain to strain, said Wilson, who referred to the findings as the “Holy Grail” of flu-vaccine research.

Typical antibodies attach to the head, which changes, creating a need for a new vaccine each year. The antibodies found in the 2009 H1N1 patients, however, bind with the more stable stalk region, which could be the basis for a permanent vaccine that could provide longer-lasting, broader protection, scientists found.

The findings reflect the latest research to suggest creation of a universal vaccine may be possible, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci said he thinks an initial trial of a global vaccine on humans may be just a couple of years away, but it could be several years before such a vaccine actually makes it to store shelves.

The team’s next step is to study the immune responses of people who were vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 strain and didn’t get sick, said Jens Wrammert, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory who worked on the project. Wrammert, who is affiliated with the Emory Vaccine Center, added that the antibodies may also be used to treat patients with severe flu cases.

Though this new research gives a boost to efforts to develop a global vaccine, the University of Chicago’s Wilson said he isn’t convinced flu will be eradicated in the near future.

“I don’t think we’re that far off from improving the vaccine,” he said. “That said, flu has always won.”