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Theraclone Sciences, based in Seattle, has a proprietary technology that can create an entire immune history from a person's blood sample. The end result is a personalized antibody library covering every ailment the individual has successfully fought off. The company has previously used this technology to identify antibodies against HIV and is now turning to influenza, examining blood from patients who successfully fought off some of the most lethal flu viruses. By studying how the patients' antibodies react to H5N1 influenza, Theraclone scientists found that the most effective antibodies bound to a spot that appears conserved among all viral strains, a specific location on a known surface protein called M2.
Researchers will look at the crystal structures of these antibodies and then use them as templates to reverse-engineer a vaccine that would prompt the human immune system to produce them. "Finding these antibodies is a very important advance, and I think researchers are excited that they finally have the tools to be able to do the analytical work around the biology of these pathogens," says David Fanning, Theraclone's president and CEO. "We may be able to come up with immunogens that bind to the broadly neutralizing antibodies. But whether they're capable of eliciting the same or similar antibodies on vaccination is really the big unknown right now." Theraclone is beginning an $18 million collaboration with Tokyo-based Zenyaku Kogyo pharmaceutical company to look for conserved flu antibodies and develop subsequent vaccine candidates.
Perhaps the most exciting but challenging prospect for a universal vaccine lies in DNA-based vaccines--sequences of DNA that, when taken up by cells and expressed as proteins, prompt an immune response. DNA vaccines can be made and modified quickly, are cheap to produce, and have a long shelf life. The major hurdle in developing these vaccines is getting the right cells to take up enough DNA to elicit immunity. Inovio, a company based in Blue Bell, PA, is working to solve this problem through a process called electroporation, in which a small electric shock disrupts a cell membrane long enough for designer DNA fragments to slip through. Recent studies by the company have shown that consensus genes, synthetic sequences that look similar enough to certain components in a variety of viruses, can prompt a broad immune response against multiple strains of flu.
Despite the promise, vaccine researchers still have a long road to travel. "There's lots of exciting things out there," Webster says. "But the first thing with vaccines is safety. You must always be sure of their safety."
Researchers are plotting strategies against the next major flu outbreak using clues from the 1918 virus.
The FDA wants further evidence that the novel approach is completely safe.
What is the reason why the FDA does not approve of cell cultures? Could it be unrecognized viruses in the cell line?
I think the CDC picture shows H1N1 infected cells as opposed to the actual viruses????? or am I wrong???
ron hansing
Are flu vaccines really useful?
My reading suggests that flu is mainly a vitamin D deficiency disease. If all doctors monitored everyone's vitamin D levels and everyone supplemented with D3, the need for vaccines, even if they work, might evaporate. Not so good for business and grants, but great for health and sustainability.
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drgunasakaran
1 Comment
Universal vaccine development faces a major hurdle..
The development of universal vaccine which can offers protection against all strains of flu virus including swine, avian etc., still remains a challenge. The rapidly mutating swine flu (both antigenic shift and drift) poses a other major impediment for this universal vaccine development. Even though Cell culture based technology expedite the developmental process, the universal acceptance of this cell culture based vaccine production by all Drug Regulatory Agencies remains a debate (FDA didnt approve cell culture based technology).
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