New type of antibody shows promise against multiple forms of flu virus

Findings could aid development of vaccines with broader protection against different flu strains Researchers have identified a previously unrecognized class of antibodies—immune system proteins that protect against disease—that appear capable of neutralizing multiple forms of flu virus. Findings are published in the open access journal PLOS Biology. A flu vaccine prompts the immune system to make antibodies that can bind to a viral protein called hemagglutinin on the outside of an invading flu virus, blocking it from entering a person’s cells. Different antibodies bind to different parts of hemagglutinin in different ways, and hemagglutinin itself evolves over time, resulting in the emergence of new flu strains that can evade old antibodies. New flu vaccines are offered each year based on predictions of whatever the most dominant strains will be. Extensive research efforts are paving the way to development of flu vaccines that are better at protecting against multiple strains at once. Many scientists...