Current vaccines for influenza provide protection against specific seasonal influenza A strains and their close relatives, but not against more distant seasonal influenza A viruses and new avian influenza A viruses, such as H5N1, which still poses a real global health concern. However, a team of researchers led by Tao Dong and Andrew McMichael, at Oxford University, United Kingdom, has now generated data that suggest adding a new component to vaccines for influenza might enable them to confer protection against a broad range of avian and seasonal influenza A viruses. In an accompanying commentary, Peter Doherty and Anne Kelso discuss in more detail how the data generated in this paper might be translated into a new and improved vaccine.
In the study, subsets of immune cells known as memory CD4+ and memory CD8+ T cells from individuals from the United Kingdom and Viet Nam were found to respond to fragments of proteins from both a seasonal influenza A strain and a strain of H5N1. Nearly all people tested had cells that cross-reacted between the seasonal influenza A strain and H5N1. The authors therefore suggest that adding fragments of influenza proteins to current vaccines for influenza might boost memory CD4+ and memory CD8+ T cell responses towards both seasonal and avian influenza viruses, providing broad protection.
TITLE: Memory T cells established by seasonal influenza A infection cross-react with avian influenza A (H5N1) in healthy individuals
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Tao Dong
Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Phone: 44-1865-222336; Fax: 44-1865-222600; E-mail: tao.dong@imm.ox.ac.uk .
Andrew McMichael
Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Phone: 44-1865-222336; Fax: 44-1865-222600; E-mail: andrew.mcmichael@ndm.ox.ac.uk .
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=32460
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY TITLE: Toward a broadly protective influenza vaccine
Peter C. Doherty
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Phone: (901) 495-3470; Fax: (901) 495-3107; E-mail: peter.doherty@stjude.org or pcd@unimelb.edu.au .
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=37232
Journal of Clinical Investigation