Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have successfully tested a potential universal flu vaccine, using the 1918 flu virus to generate a lasting immune response in primates against the evolving H5N1 virus, paving the way for a single-shot influenza vaccine. New findings from a study conducted by Oregon Health & Science University present a hopeful method for creating a universal flu vaccine. This “one and done” vaccine could provide lifelong protection against a constantly changing virus .
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications , tested an OHSU-developed vaccine platform against the virus considered most likely to trigger the next pandemic. Researchers reported the vaccine generated a robust immune response in nonhuman primates that were exposed to the avian H5N1 influenza virus. But the vaccine wasn’t based on the contemporary H5N1 virus; instead, the primates were inoculated against the influenza virus of 1918 that killed millions of people worldwide.
“It’s exciting because in most cases, this kind of basic science research advances the science very gradually; in 20 years, it might become something,” said senior author Jonah Sacha, Ph.D., professor and chief of the Division of Pathobiology at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center.
“This could actually become a vaccine in five years or less.” Researchers reported that six of 11 nonhuman primates inoculated against the virus that circulated a century ago — the 1918 f.