Flu News Friday: The Latest in Influenza Vaccines
June 18, 2021
Conference Announcement: The Eighth ESWI Influenza Conference is December 4th to 7th, 2021. Join colleagues and peers from around the world in Salzburg for the largest conference dedicated to influenza, RSV disease and Covid-19. Register here. Abstracts are due September 3, 2021; submit abstracts here.
1. Seize the game-changing potential of mRNA vaccines
Stacey Knobler & Jamie Bay Nishi, The Global Health Technologies Coalition / June 17, 2021
While mRNA vaccines exemplify how basic discovery research coupled with targeted translational investments drove innovation during COVID-19, the mRNA platform has untapped potential for quashing future viral threats, including influenza. A new video and blog from the Influenzer Initiative and GHTC explores how flexible mRNA technology offers the potential to make vaccines when and where viral threats emerge and more readily available to the people who most need them.
2. Bacteriophage T4 Vaccine Platform for Next-generation Influenza Vaccine Development [PrePrint]
Li et al., bioRxiv / June 14, 2021
Scientists designed a novel influenza vaccine utilizing a T4 bacteriophage Virus-Like Particle (VLP) vaccine platform to express three tandem copies of the conserved M2e domain from human, swine, and avian influenza viruses. The 3M2e-T4 VLP vaccine was shown to be highly immunogenic and induced complete protection against lethal challenge.
3. Germany: H1N1v influenza case reported in teen
Outbreak News Today / June 11, 2021
The World Health Organization reported a human case of an H1N1 swine influenza A variant in Germany. Prior to the onset of respiratory symptoms, the person had worked on a swine farm. No human-human transmission has been observed.
4. Antigen-Presenting, Self-Assembled Protein Nanobarrels as an Adjuvant-Free Vaccine Platform against Influenza Virus
Kang et al., ACS Nano / June 11, 2021
Researchers genetically engineered an influenza vaccine consisting of a Brucella protein nanobarrel expressing the conserved M2e extracellular domain of the influenza virus. The universal influenza nano-vaccine candidate demonstrated a cross-protective immune response and induced B and T cell responses in mice.
5. The Vaccines We Have Are Good. But They Could Be So Much Better.
Michael Callahan and Mark Poznansky, The New York Times / June 10, 2021
The current and second-generation, booster SARS-CoV-2 vaccines take a “whack-a-mole” approach, meaning that the vaccines were developed based on known variants. To truly protect people against a virus, we need a “kill shot,” or broadly protective vaccine that protects against all current and unknown, future variants. Developing this variant-proof, designer vaccine will involve predicting viral variants using genomic and computer-based technologies. The hope is that with the new Biden administration, previous global research collaborations and pathogen-predicting programs will be restored to help prevent future pandemic and global health security threats.
6. Formulation Approach that Enables the Coating of a Stable Influenza Vaccine on a Transdermal Microneedle Patch
Ameri et al., AAPS PharmSciTech / June 10, 2021
Scientists developed an injection-free microneedle patch influenza vaccine. Transdermal vaccines are not only an attractive alternative to injections for their ability to be more feasible in lower-resource settings, culturally sensitive, and dose-sparing; from an immunology standpoint, a patch system could induce a more effective immune response, involving greater antigen-presenting cells that present to CD8+ and CD4+ T cells. The trivalent vaccine was demonstrated to be stable for 12 months at room temperature (25 °C) and demonstrated immunogenicity in pre-clinical and phase I clinical trials.
7. The Nature of Immune Responses to Influenza Vaccination in High-Risk Populations
Wiggins et al., Viruses / June 9, 2021
This review examines influenza vaccine immune responses specific to high-risk populations. Older individuals may experience reduced vaccine efficacy due to immunosenscence and immune imprinting, while those with overnutrition, undernutrition, and comorbidities can experience reduced vaccine efficacy due to immunodeficiencies. Understanding these different immune responses is critical to developing novel influenza vaccines that are more protective for high-risk populations and to help prevent the next pandemic.
8. Interference at Influenza Hemagglutinin Antigenic-Sites Determines Antibody Levels and Specificities after Repeat Vaccination [PrePrint]
Anderson et al., bioRxiv / June 1, 2021
Authors computationally simulated scenarios from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic to study the contribution of pre-existing influenza immunity to the effectiveness of influenza vaccination in children. Three scenarios were studied: children receiving a second dose with prior exposure to the 2009 influenza HA antigen, with prior exposure to an HA antigen antigenically similar to the 2009 influenza HA antigen, and with prior exposure to an antigenically dissimilar strain.
9. A Prevalent Focused Human Antibody Response to the Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Head Interface
McCarthy et al., mBio / June 1, 2021
While the head domain of the influenza virus typically evolves faster than the stalk domain, there are conserved regions located on the head domain. Scientists studied immune responses to the conserved influenza hemagglutinin (HA) head interface. Antibody interactions with this interface demonstrated broad reactivity and it was concluded that this region was immunogenic. These findings can inform the design of immunogens for improved or universal influenza vaccines.
10. Development of Lentiviral Vectors Pseudotyped With Influenza B Hemagglutinins: Application in Vaccine Immunogenicity, mAb Potency, and Sero-Surveillance Studies
Ferrara et al., Frontiers in Immunology / May 24, 2021
Serological assays are used for serological surveillance and to evaluate the immunogenicity of the vaccine prior to licensure. However, traditional influenza assay methods, such as the hemagglutinin inhibition (HI) assay or microneutralization (MN) assay, have their limitations. Scientists developed an innovative neutralization assay method using lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with influenza B hemagglutinin. The assay was demonstrated to detect cross-reactive and neutralizing responses in all assays and discriminate among different strains and lineages.
11. Archival influenza virus genomes from Europe reveal genomic and phenotypic variability during the 1918 pandemic [PrePrint]
Patrono et al., bioRxiv / May 14, 2021
The 1918 influenza pandemic was the largest pandemic in the 20th century, but much remains unknown with regard to its genomic diversity at the time and the impact on the subsequent seasonality of influenza. Scientists sequenced influenza viruses preserved in lung specimens from the emergence, pandemic and post-pandemic periods of the 1918 pandemic. Comparison of the viral genomes from the first and second pandemic waves showed variation in the nucleoprotein (NP) gene. This variation is thought to be an adaptative mutation of the virus so that it could replicate more effectively in humans. Phylogenetic data also point to the theory that all subsequent, seasonal H1N1 viruses originated from the 1918 influenza virus.
12. Funding Opportunities & Information
ISID research grants
International Society of Infectious Diseases / Due June 21, 2021
Enhancing Global Health Security: Strengthening Public Health Surveillance Systems and Preparedness Globally
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Due August 9, 2021
Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID)
National Science Foundation / Due November 17, 2021
Emily Graul, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Visit Influenzer.org to learn more about our journey to accelerate the development of a universal influenza vaccine. @TheInfluenzers
