The current influenza A vaccines utilize surface proteins as antigens, predominantly hemagglutinin. These antigens change each season, requiring new vaccine formulations and annual administration; thus, development of a universal influenza vaccine is a high priority. In an industry-sponsored phase 2a trial, investigators evaluated a recombinant, nanoparticle-based influenza A vaccine candidate containing influenza nucleoprotein (an invariant protein) and designed to elicit cell-mediated immunity. In all, 137 healthy adults (age range, 18\u201355) were randomized to receive vaccine (180 \u00b5g, 300 \u00b5g, or 480 \u00b5g) or placebo as a single intramuscular injection.<\/p>\n
The vaccine elicited mild-to-moderate local and systemic reactogenicity at all active doses. Cell-mediated responses, as measured by nucleoprotein-specific interferon-gamma ELISpot, showed statistically significant increases compared with baseline in all vaccine groups. In addition to polyfunctional CD4 T-cells and increased antibody levels, the higher doses elicited CD8 T-cell responses. Preliminary evaluation of RT-PCR\u2013positive influenza illness among participants was consistent with vaccine efficacy.<\/p>\n
This candidate for a universal influenza A vaccine was safe and showed promise to elicit a strong immune-mediated response. Further studies are needed to evaluate protection against infection and disease compared with the currently available products. However, durability of protection will be the key requirement if a single administration of vaccine is to have a long-lasting effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The current influenza A vaccines utilize surface proteins as antigens, predominantly hemagglutinin. These antigens change each season, requiring new vaccine formulations and annual administration; thus, development of a universal influenza vaccine is a high priority. In an industry-sponsored phase 2a trial, investigators evaluated a recombinant, nanoparticle-based influenza A vaccine candidate containing influenza nucleoprotein (an invariant [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-nanotechnology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}