One Vaccination for Life

  Flu viruses (gold) grown in dog kidney cells (green)
http://flic.kr/p/aZ6Fs

In 1918, one physician wrote that patients experiencing common cold-like symptoms would rapidly "develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen" and “struggle for air until they suffocated." Another physician recorded that the patients "died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth." In this 1918 flu pandemic, fifty million people died and the average American life expectancy dropped more than ten years. The primitive technology available at the time meant doctors could not combat such a widespread, fatal disease. While some argue that the world remains ill-prepared for a flu pandemic, recent breakthroughs in flu virus structure ensure that laboratories will soon have a universal vaccine and faster methods of producing this vaccine in order to protect the world in the next flu pandemic.

New findings regarding the virus’s surface proteins provide a loophole in the fight against influenza. Since the flu virus constantly evolves, it is particularly hard to combat. We may contract the disease multiple times because the virus’s proteins change, and consequently the antibodies that fought the virus the first time cannot effectively kill the virus the second time. Therefore, we need a vaccine every year. However, scientists have uncovered a novel idea that will allow laboratories to construct a universal vaccine. Instead of stimulating antibodies to attack the parts of the virus that constantly change, target the parts that don’t change.¹

Upon further investigation of the virus’s proteins, scientists have a greater understanding of how to create the universal vaccine. The virus’s main surface protein is called hemagglutinin and it allows the virus to attach to and enter a cell. The protein’s “head” constantly mutates and current vaccines focus on this part. However, a study by Wayne Marasco and his colleagues found new target proteins on the “stalk” that barely change between flu strains1. Another researcher, Walter Fiers from Ghent University in Belgium, identified the exact part of the “stalk” that remains stable, the M2 protein. Thus, laboratories can create a vaccine that spurs an immune system attack on the M2 protein, resulting not only in death of the virus but also in lifelong defense from the illness.²

A new vaccine pioneered by Fiers offers broad protection and demonstrates how new vaccine development can prepare the world for a flu pandemic. The British-American biotech company Acambis successfully tested Fiers’ vaccine. In the trial, scientists evaluated the vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune response. The results showed that the vaccine does produce an immune response and analysts did not observe any significant side effects. Also, since the vaccine protects against all type A strains and all pandemic strains are type A, the M2-based vaccine will protect against all pandemics.

Another innovative vaccine produced by Marasco offers yet an additional option for universal protection. In an experiment where researchers tested Marasco’s vaccine on mice, the mice’s antibodies attacked the M2 protein before and after researchers infected the mice with viruses such as H5N1 bird flu and H1N1. The antibiotics protected or cured the animals in each case. Therefore, instead of administering annual flu shots, doctors could administer this one shot, offering life-long protection.¹ Following the discovery of this universal vaccine, some question how we would produce the vaccine quickly and in large quantities.

Researchers from Baxter International, an American health care company, have developed a faster method of producing vaccines that will aid in the effort of flu protection. During the past half-century, scientists have used a technique where they inject flu virus into fertilized chicken eggs. However, using the method by Baxter International, scientists grow flu viruses in cultures of animal cells rather than in chicken eggs. The method cuts down on the current six-month wait time to produce a vaccine. The method is also a safer process because companies grow the animal cells in steel tanks, which reduces the risk of bacterial contamination.³ This new method could boost vaccine production speed and supply, resulting in greater preparedness for the next pandemic.

As a result of the world’s long history of flu pandemics, some believe that the world is not prepared for another outbreak. However, scientists have always focused on the fact that flu viruses constantly mutate. Using the understanding that we must focus on the parts of the virus that remain the same, we can protect ourselves from the virulent beast. The discovery of proteins that don’t mutate, an imminent universal vaccine, and a more practical method of producing vaccines all suggest that the world is indeed prepared for the next flu pandemic.


Works Cited
1. "Universal Flu Vaccine Could Be On The Way." New Scientist 201.2697 (2009): 4. Academic Search Complete.
2. Hellemans, Alexander. "Beating The Flu In A Single Shot." Scientific American 298.6 (2008): 104-107. Academic Search Complete.
3. Pollack, Andrew. "Scientists See Success in Flu Vaccine Made by Faster Method." New York Times 16 Feb. 2011: 17. Academic Search Complete.