Universal flu vaccine candidate

Date:
March 29, 2022
Source:
National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Summary:
Scientists have leveraged on a novel vaccine platform to deliver
M2e to immune cells. This allowed them to prove that a single shot
immunization containing M2e was able to trigger long-lasting immune
responses that could protect effectively against multiple strains of
the flu. The team was also able to demonstrate that this vaccination
approach significantly enhanced protective immune responses in the
context of pre-existing flu immunity. This scenario is particularly
relevant in adult and elderly populations, where individuals have
been exposed to flu viruses multiple times in the past and have
low levels of M2e-specific antibodies in their blood circulation.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists have leveraged on a novel vaccine platform to deliver M2e to
immune cells. This allowed them to prove that a single shot immunization containing M2e was able to trigger long-lasting immune responses that
could protect effectively against multiple strains of the flu.


========================================================================== Influenza, commonly referred to as "flu," is a major global public health concern and a huge economic burden to societies. Seasonal influenza
epidemics afflict between 13 to 100 million individuals annually,
including three to five million cases of severe illness and 300,000 to
600,000 deaths worldwide. This represents a top global public health
concern and an extraordinary economic burden to all societies. Pandemics
are less frequent, but are generally more severe and pose a greater
threat. Over the past century, there have been at least four devastating pandemics caused by the Influenza A virus which took the lives of hundreds
of millions of individuals.

Although vaccination arguably represents the most effective way to prevent influenza, current vaccination strategies suffer from certain limitations, chief of which require current influenza vaccines to be updated annually
to match circulating strains. This results in low vaccination take-up
rates and poor coverage due to inaccurate prediction of circulating
strains. Broadly protective, "universal" flu vaccines that do not need
to be updated annually have therefore been pursued.

The highly conserved M2e peptide is a leading universal flu candidate;
this peptide shares a conserved sequence with nearly all known human
Influenza A strains. However, its limited ability to trigger a strong
and long-lasting immune response has represented a major roadblock in
its clinical development.

Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National
University of Singapore and Monash University in Melbourne have published
a paper in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America where they successfully leveraged
on a novel vaccine platform to deliver M2e to immune cells. This allowed
them to prove that a single shot immunisation containing M2e was able
to trigger long-lasting immune responses that could protect effectively
against multiple strains of the flu.

The team was also able to demonstrate that this vaccination approach significantly enhanced protective immune responses in the context of pre- existing flu immunity. This scenario is particularly relevant in adult
and elderly populations, where individuals have been exposed to flu
viruses multiple times in the past and have low levels of M2e-specific antibodies in their blood circulation.

This vaccine approach has the potential to minimise the amount of M2e
vaccine antigen (substance that triggers the body's immune response
against that itself) and the number of injections required for effective
and long-lasting protection. It also removes the need for strong adjuvants
(a substance which enhances the body's immune response to an antigen),
reducing potential side- effects, particularly in more vulnerable
populations.

Beyond the flu, this vaccine platform could be employed to tackle a
multitude of diseases, including infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The current COVID- 19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of developing versatile, powerful platforms for the rapid deployment of vaccines
against any highly virulent diseases. This new finding could lend
itself to further development of vaccines for this, or any future, novel diseases. The team is currently working on a COVID-19 vaccine candidate
using the same strategy.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by National_University_of_Singapore,_Yong_Loo_Lin_School_of Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ranmali Kavishna, Tha Yang Kang, Maurizio Vacca, Benson Yen
Leong Chua,
Hae-Young Park, Peck Szee Tan, Vincent TK Chow, Mireille H Lahoud,
Sylvie Alonso. A single-shot vaccine approach for the universal
influenza A vaccine candidate M2e. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (13) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025607119 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220329185333.htm

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