China and the U.S. develop nano-vaccines to combat influenza A

chinese and U.S. researchers have teamed up to develop a nanoparticle flu vaccine that can effectively fight the influenza A virus in mouse experiments. The vaccine opens up new ideas for the development of drugs such as generic influenza vaccines.
recent study published in
, the particles are made up of double-layered peptides that mimic the biological signals sent by influenza viruses to trigger a double immune response.
the core of the two-tier vaccine consists of peptides in the nuclear proteins of influenza viruses, which induce immune T-cell responses that cross-protect influenza viruses, and the outer layer of nanoparticles consists of four peptides outside the M2 protein of influenza A virus, the researchers said. In most human seasonal influenza viruses, the extracellation of this protein is a conservative region and is expected to be a target for future research into generic influenza vaccines.
nanoparticles can also induce an immune response from B lymphocytes, which work in synergy with immune T cells, said Wang Baozhong, one of the study's co-authors and an associate professor at Georgia State University's Institute of Biomedical Research.
the vaccine, mice infected with multiple influenza A viruses survived completely, while mice given a placebo died within a week, according to a study.
researchers believe that the double-layered peptide nanoparticles have stronger immunity and more stable active components, and are also expected to be used in the development of other pathogens or cancer vaccines.
peptides are intermediate products in protein hydrolysing and are much smaller than proteins. Wang Baozhong told Xinhua that as far as induced T-cell immunity is concerned, only a small fraction of the fragments in an antigen protein are effective antigen-determining clusters, while other sequences without antigens may cause adverse reactions, while the use of peptides can increase the density of effective antigen-determined clusters, and peptides are easy to automate synthesis, without the need for complex protein expression and purification processes.
in the experiment, the vaccine was not inoculated using traditional intramuscular injection methods, but by using a soluble micro-pin patch that was attached to the skin. The researchers say the method can make the drug more effective and last longer.
study also included researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University and Henan Normal University in China. Based on existing research, they hope to develop a more effective and better way to protect against multiple influenza viruses in the future. (Source: Xinhua News Agency Zhou Zhou)