“Nanoparticle” flu vaccine design shows promise in early tests

Existing flu vaccines provide only limited, “seasonal” protection because they target highly changeable proteins on the virus. Scripps Research scientists have now designed a vaccine that should work broadly against influenza A strains—one of the two types of flu virus that normally circulate in humans. The new vaccine design, described in a paper in ACS Nano on November 21, uses a relatively unchanging influenza A protein fragment, M2e, and presents it on self-assembling “nanoparticles” to better engage the immune system. The vaccine’s strong results in initial animal tests point to the possibility of a universal flu vaccine that provides long-term protection against serious illness from both ordinary and novel flu strains. “This experimental vaccine has the potential to protect against diverse seasonal influenza A strains as well as future emergent strains that could cause pandemics,” says study senior author Jiang Zhu, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and...