Scientists have hailed a breakthrough in the search for the “holy grail” of a vaccine able to tackle all forms of flu.
Tests on volunteers at Imperial College during the 2009 flu pandemic identified a cell carried in greater numbers by those who escaped the virus, or suffered no ill effects from it.
Efforts to produce a vaccine will now focus on stimulating the body to produce more of those CD8 T cells, which could provide the “blueprint” for a universal defence against the virus.
Currently a new vaccine has to be prepared each year to respond to the latest mutations.
Professor Ajit Lalvani, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who led the study, said: “New strains of flu are continuously emerging, some of which are deadly, and so the holy grail is to create a universal vaccine that would be effective against all strains of flu. Our findings suggest that by making the body produce more of this specific type of CD8 T cell, you can protect people against symptomatic illness. This provides the blueprint for developing a universal flu vaccine.
“Now that we know these T cells may protect, we can design a vaccine to prevent people getting symptoms and transmitting infection to others. This could curb seasonal flu annually and protect people against pandemics.”
Researchers believe that a vaccine that stimulates the creation of CD8 T cells could also be effective against flu strains that cross from birds and pigs.
Some 342 staff and students donated blood samples and were given nasal swabs for the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine.
They were asked to fill in a survey about their health every three weeks and if they experienced flu symptoms, they took a nasal swab and sent it back to the lab.