A super antibody known as F16, which can battle all types of influenza A virus that cause disease in humans and animals has found by researchers. The invention could prove turning point in the development of new flu treatments. At present, makers of vaccine have to alter the formulation of their flu shots every year.
They want to assure that vaccine protects against the strains of the virus circulating. This is an unwieldy procedure which takes time and money, so the researchers aim to come up with a universal flu vaccine that could protect people from all flu strains for decades, or even for life.
When somebody is contaminated with the flu virus, their antibodies target the virus’ hemagglutinin protein. As this protein develops so quickly, there are sixteen diverse subtypes of influenza A that forms two main clusters. Humans typically generate antibodies to a specific subtype, so new vaccines are made each year to match these strains.
Researchers need to recognize the molecular signatures that prompt the growth of broadly neutralizing antibodies. The team of researchers from Britain and Switzerland used a new technique targeting to beat needle-in-a-haystack-type-odds and managed to locate an antibody from a human body that neutralizes both main groups of influenza A viruses.
The earlier study has shown antibodies that work in Group 1 Influenza A viruses or against most of Group 2 influenza A viruses, but not work in both groups. However, this research team developed a method by making use of X-ray crystallography to test very large numbers of human plasma cells.
It increases their chances of finding an antibody even if it was tremendously rare. When researchers identified F16 antibody, they injected it into lab mice and found that it protected the rodents against infection by either Group 1 or Group 2 influenza A virus. The study was published in the journal Science.
According to Humabs’ chief scientific officer and director, Antonio Lanzavecchia, from the Swiss Institute for Research in Biomedicine, high rates of seasonal flu and the randomness of potential future epidemics emphasized the need for better treatments that target all flu viruses. As the first and only antibody which targets all known subtypes of the influenza A virus, FI6 symbolizes a significant new treatment alternative.