Gut microbes affect flu vaccine effectiveness

Researchers have discovered that the composition of the microorganisms in the gut affect effectivity of the seasonal flu vaccine. This potentially means that your gut bacteria affect how effective the vaccine will be within your own body. The ‘potential’ is because the research is based on animal studies. Nonetheless, there could be a parallel with the human body. The research indicates that gut microbes influence the efficacy of the seasonal flu vaccine, based on experiments using mice. The discovery was made by investigators at Emory University in Atlanta. The effect is through a Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5)-mediated interaction, which is influenced by the gut microbiome. TLR5, is a protein that plays a fundamental role in pathogen recognition and activation of innate immunity. Together, the two modulate the immune response to influenza and unrelated pathogens. What this means is, proteins from intestinal microbes can enhance the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccine. While the...