The annual flu shot could soon be a thing of the past. Scientists are working on a revolutionary formula that would result in only needing one flu shot in your lifetime. Simply put, this would mean no more annual vaccinations or worrying about whether this year’s shot will match the flu strains circulating around the world.
Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have developed a promising approach to creating this universal influenza vaccine — one that could provide lifelong protection against the ever-changing flu virus. Their study, published in Nature Communications, tested a new vaccine platform against H5N1, a bird flu strain considered most likely to cause the next pandemic.
Here’s where it gets interesting: instead of using the current H5N1 virus, researchers vaccinated monkeys against the infamous 1918 flu virus – the same one that caused millions of deaths worldwide over a century ago. Surprisingly, this approach showed remarkable results.
“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,” says senior author Jonah Sacha, Ph.D., chief of the Division of Pathobiology at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center, in a media release. “This could actually become a vaccine in five years or less.”
So, How Does This New Vaccine Work?
Unlike traditional flu shots that target the virus’s outer surface – which constantly changes – this approach focuses on the virus’s internal structure. Think of it like targeting the engine of a car instead of its paint job. The internal parts of the virus don’t change much over time, providing a stable target for our immune system.
The researchers used a clever trick to deliver this vaccine. They inserted small pieces of the target flu virus into a common herpes virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV). Don’t worry – CMV is harmless for most people and often causes no symptoms at all. This modified CMV acts like a Trojan horse, sneaking into our bodies and teaching our immune system’s T cells how to recognize and fight off flu viruses.
To test their theory, the team exposed vaccinated non-human primates to the H5N1 bird flu virus. The results were impressive: six out of 11 vaccinated animals survived exposure to one of the deadliest viruses in the world today. In contrast, all unvaccinated primates succumbed to the disease.
“Should a deadly virus such as H5N1 infect a human and ignite a pandemic, we need to quickly validate and deploy a new vaccine,” says co-corresponding author Douglas Reed, Ph.D., associate professor of immunology at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research.
What makes this approach even more exciting is its potential to work against other mutating viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19.
“For viruses of pandemic potential, it’s critical to have something like this. We set out to test influenza, but we don’t know what’s going to come next,” Dr. Sacha believes.
The success of this vaccine lies in its ability to target parts of the virus that remain consistent over time.
“It worked because the interior protein of the virus was so well preserved,” Sacha continues. “So much so, that even after almost 100 years of evolution, the virus can’t change those critically important parts of itself.”