A study by researchers at the University of Chicago and Emory University in Atlanta shows that patients who were infected with the H1N1 flu in 2009 produced antibodies with broad protection against other types of flu virus.
The study, published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that the patients’ antibodies were directed against H1N1’s most critical viral components. These components make up the most basic structures of the virus, thus they are found in a wide variety of other flu viruses, making the 2009 H1N1 patients immune to multiple strains.
Using only those essential components in future vaccines could prevent the need to quickly mass produce a customized yearly vaccine which is based only on predictions of which strains might be present that year.
"The result is something like the Holy Grail for flu-vaccine research," said Dr. Patrick Wilson, study author assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. "It demonstrates how to make a single vaccine that could potentially provide immunity to all influenza. The surprise was that such a very different influenza strain, as opposed to the most common strains, could lead us to something so widely applicable."
For the study, white blood cells from nine infected patients (whose symptoms ranged from mild to life-threatening) were isolated and antibody genes analyzed. A total of 86 different antibodies were tested. Five of those bound to all seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade as well as the deadly 1918 Spanish flu.
These results indicated that "while the flu changes from year to year, some core elements have been consistent for nearly a century," said Wilson.
These types of antibodies, which bind to only the critical part of a virus, were previously thought to be very rarely made.
Dr. Jens Wrammert, lead author and assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University School of Medicine and the Emory Vaccine Center said, "Our data show that infection with the 2009 pandemic influenza strain could induce broadly protective antibodies that are only very rarely seen after seasonal flu infections or flu shots. These findings show that these types of antibodies can be induced in humans, if the immune system has the right stimulation."
Next up for the authors is studying those patients who received the 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine to see if they had the same type of immune response.
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