New approach by Stanford researchers could lead to a lifetime flu vaccine

Another year, another flu vaccine because so far scientists haven’t managed to make a vaccine that protects against all strains of flu. A new approach could end that ritual and protect against deadly pandemic flu. If the virus that causes flu were an ice cream cone, then the yearly vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize just the scoop – chocolate one year, strawberry the next. As the virus changes each year, so too must the vaccine. A new approach that teaches the body to recognize the cone portion of the virus – which stays the same year-to-year – could shake up that yearly vaccination ritual and protect people against pandemic flu like the one that killed 40 to 50 million people in 1918. The team working on this new approach, led by Stanford biochemist Peter Kim, has shown early signs that their technique works in lab animals. They warn that they...