Universal flu vaccine

The Influenza virus has both hemagglutinin and neuraminidase spikes that are being used as antigen binding sites in the search for a universal vaccine.

A universal flu vaccine would be a flu vaccine effective against all human-adapted strains of influenza A and influenza B regardless of the virus sub type, or any antigenic drift or antigenic shift.[1][2][3][page needed] Hence it should not require modification from year to year in order to keep up with changes in the influenza virus. As of 2024 no universal flu vaccine had been successfully developed, however several candidate vaccines were in development, with some undergoing early stage clinical trial.[4][5]

  1. ^ Nachbagauer R, Krammer F (April 2017). "Universal influenza virus vaccines and therapeutic antibodies". Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 23 (4): 222–228. doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2017.02.009. PMC 5389886. PMID 28216325.
  2. ^ Khanna M, Sharma S, Kumar B, Rajput R (25 May 2014). "Protective Immunity Based on the Conserved Hemagglutinin Stalk Domain and Its Prospects for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development". BioMed Research International (Review). 2014: 546274. doi:10.1155/2014/546274. ISSN 2314-6133. PMC 4055638. PMID 24982895. 546274.
  3. ^ Sherwood, Linda M (2017). Prescott's Microbiology (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9781259281594.
  4. ^ "Clinical trial of mRNA universal influenza vaccine candidate begins". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2024-06-14.
  5. ^ "NIH clinical trial of universal flu vaccine candidate begins". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2023-09-15. Retrieved 2024-06-14.