Flu viruses adapt and mutate, making influenza vaccines less effective. New research – published in the journal Science – has found a way to break down the virus’s defenses, giving future flu vaccines a boost.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles – led by Ren Sun, a professor of molecular and medical pharmacology working in the university’s David Geffen School of Medicine – came up with a wholly new approach to developing flu vaccines.
Conventional vaccines reduce “immunogenicity” – that is, the ability of a substance to trigger the body’s immune response – by attenuating the virus. But the new approach preserves robust immune responses and works by identifying and eliminating the so-called immune evasion function of the viruses.
The body’s “first-line defense” function is for interferons to neutralize viruses as quickly as possible, while the “second line” of defense is to modulate our immune response, thereby offering us long-term protection against viruses. Interferons are signaling proteins that coordinate our immune response. As Sun explains, “If viruses do not induce interferons, they will not be killed in the first-line defense; and without interferons, the adaptive immune response is limited. “For these reasons, viruses have evolved strategies to evade detection and limit the production of the interferons by host organisms,” he added.
So, Sun and team found and disabled a genomic sequence of the influenza virus responsible for the interferon induction. “By disabling these interferon-evasion function,” explains first study author Yushen Du, “the engineered virus is weakened in typical hosts.” “At the same time,” she adds, “due to interferon stimulation, the engineered virus generates very strong immune responses.”
Showing posts with label influenza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label influenza. Show all posts
Monday, January 29, 2018
Friday, December 18, 2015
The Tale of Two Studies
I was fortunate enough to run across these two studies released on the same day this week. So please compare and contrast:
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 National Institutes of Health - Less than half of Americans strongly believe that the flu shot will help them avoid the illness, and one-third don’t believe it will protect them at all, a new study finds.
The fact that The Harris Poll turned up so many full shot doubters is troubling, one expert said, because immunization does offer protection.
“Vaccination can provide as much as 60-70% guarantee of protection against the flu,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Why shouldn’t everyone said as much protection as possible?”
However, the online survey of 2,225 adults, conducted in mid-October, found that 32% didn’t think flu vaccination would protect them, while only 43% “strongly believed” a flu shot offers help against the virus.
And nearly half of those surveyed - 42% - thought “people take the flu season too seriously.”
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 National Institutes of Health - More than half of U.S. hospitals don’t require health care providers to get a seasonal flu shot, a new study finds.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 National Institutes of Health - Less than half of Americans strongly believe that the flu shot will help them avoid the illness, and one-third don’t believe it will protect them at all, a new study finds.
The fact that The Harris Poll turned up so many full shot doubters is troubling, one expert said, because immunization does offer protection.
“Vaccination can provide as much as 60-70% guarantee of protection against the flu,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Why shouldn’t everyone said as much protection as possible?”
However, the online survey of 2,225 adults, conducted in mid-October, found that 32% didn’t think flu vaccination would protect them, while only 43% “strongly believed” a flu shot offers help against the virus.
And nearly half of those surveyed - 42% - thought “people take the flu season too seriously.”
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 National Institutes of Health - More than half of U.S. hospitals don’t require health care providers to get a seasonal flu shot, a new study finds.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Typical Adult Over 30 Gets Flu Twice Every 10 Years
A new British study finds that the typical person over 30 only gets the flu about twice every decade.
“For adults, we found that influenza infection is actually much less common that some people think,” said study senior author Dr. Steven Riley, of Imperial College London. His team published its findings March 3 in the journal PLoS Biology.
“In childhood and adolescence, it’s much more common, possibly because we mix more with other people,” Riley said in a journal release. For adults over 30, “the exact frequency of infection will vary depending on background levels of flu and vaccination,” he added.
The study team analyzed blood samples from volunteers in southern China to assess their levels of antibodies against nine different flu strains that circulated there between 1968 and 2009.
“This is the first time anyone has reconstructed a group’s history of infection from modern-day blood samples,” said Dr. Adam Kucharski, who worked on the study at Imperial College London.
From the blood test results, the investigators concluded that children get the flu an average of every other year, but that flu infections become less frequent as people move through childhood and early adulthood.
“There’s a lot of debate in the field as to how often people get flu, as opposed to flu-like illness caused by something else,” Kucharski noted. Even though people may think they have influenza, “symptoms could sometimes be caused by common cold viruses, such as rhinovirus or coronavirus.”
On the other hand, flu can sometimes be milder than many people realize. “Some people might not realize they had flu, but the infection will show up when a blood sample is subsequently tested,” Kucharski said.
“For adults, we found that influenza infection is actually much less common that some people think,” said study senior author Dr. Steven Riley, of Imperial College London. His team published its findings March 3 in the journal PLoS Biology.
“In childhood and adolescence, it’s much more common, possibly because we mix more with other people,” Riley said in a journal release. For adults over 30, “the exact frequency of infection will vary depending on background levels of flu and vaccination,” he added.
The study team analyzed blood samples from volunteers in southern China to assess their levels of antibodies against nine different flu strains that circulated there between 1968 and 2009.
“This is the first time anyone has reconstructed a group’s history of infection from modern-day blood samples,” said Dr. Adam Kucharski, who worked on the study at Imperial College London.
From the blood test results, the investigators concluded that children get the flu an average of every other year, but that flu infections become less frequent as people move through childhood and early adulthood.
“There’s a lot of debate in the field as to how often people get flu, as opposed to flu-like illness caused by something else,” Kucharski noted. Even though people may think they have influenza, “symptoms could sometimes be caused by common cold viruses, such as rhinovirus or coronavirus.”
On the other hand, flu can sometimes be milder than many people realize. “Some people might not realize they had flu, but the infection will show up when a blood sample is subsequently tested,” Kucharski said.
Monday, March 31, 2014
The Flu Can Infect Many Without Causing Symptoms
Think you know who has the flu? Thing again: a new study finds that three-quarters of people infected with seasonal flu and swine flu in recent years showed no symptoms.
Sunday, March 16, 2014 (National Institutes of Health)
Researchers analyzed data gathered in England during the winter flu seasons between 2006 and 2011, including the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" pandemic.
Overall, about 18 percent of unvaccinated people became infected with an influenza virus, but only 23 percent of them went on to develop flu symptoms, the researchers reported March 16 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
What’s more, only about 17 percent of infected people became ill enough to see a doctor, the British study found. And compared with some the seasonal flu strains, the 2009 swine flu strain actually caused much milder symptoms.
The findings suggest that relying on data about flu-related visits to primary care doctors underestimates the extent of flu infections and illnesses, the researchers said.
Overall, the infection rate for the winter flu seasons as calculated in the study were an average of 22 times higher than the rates recorded by standard methods.
"Reported cases of influenza represent the tip of a large clinical and subclinical iceberg that is mainly invisible to national surveillance systems that only record cases seeking medical attention," study lead author Dr. Andrew Hayward, of University College London, said in a journal new release.
"Most people don’t go to the doctor when they have the flu" he added. "Even when they do consult they are often not recognized as having influenza. Surveillance based on patients who consult greatly underestimates the number of community cases, which in turn can lead to overestimates of the proportion of cases who end up in the hospital or die."
An important question that needs to be answered is whether people who have the flu but have only mild or no symptoms can still easily pass on the virus, Dr. Peter William Horby from the Oxford University Clinical research Unit in Vietnam, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
Even if only mildly infectious, a large number of these people could play a major role in spreading flu each season, he suggested.
MY TAKE:
The symptoms associated with the flu are the result of the body’s immune response rather than the presence of the virus itself. Some of the more dangerous forms of influenza, like the Spanish Flu and its descendant H1N1 can be fatal only because the immune system reacts so violently to the infection, the infiltration of WBCs (white blood cells) into the lungs literally drowns the host. That’s why these flu epidemics kill young healthy adults rather than the very young and very old who have little immune response to challenge the virus.
Autoimmune diseases, like MS, Crohn’s Disease, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, are also a result of an overactive immune system and thought to be triggered by viral infections and other foreign bodies that find their way into the blood stream. Eighty-five percent of emerging disease is autoimmune in nature. I fear that the rapid spread of viral infections in our global population, along with the high mutation rates of viral infections is the driving force behind much of autoimmune disease.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If someone around has the flu, you are probably infected as well, even if you never develop any symptoms. To protect against colds and flues, a daily dose of Echinacea is recommended. It takes two weeks for Echinacea to reach its’ full potential in the immune system. Then it acts as a modulator rather than just stimulating the immune system. It can protect against an overt over active immune response to H1N1 as well as stimulate a response to a more passive virus. Eighty percent of the Echinacea sold in the US is not Echinacea or is made from the wrong plant species or wrong plant parts. Fortunately, good Echinacea will make your tongue “tingle” within a minute or so of placing it on the tongue. That’s an easy test to see if you are taking the real thing.
Sunday, March 16, 2014 (National Institutes of Health)
Researchers analyzed data gathered in England during the winter flu seasons between 2006 and 2011, including the 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" pandemic.
Overall, about 18 percent of unvaccinated people became infected with an influenza virus, but only 23 percent of them went on to develop flu symptoms, the researchers reported March 16 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
What’s more, only about 17 percent of infected people became ill enough to see a doctor, the British study found. And compared with some the seasonal flu strains, the 2009 swine flu strain actually caused much milder symptoms.
The findings suggest that relying on data about flu-related visits to primary care doctors underestimates the extent of flu infections and illnesses, the researchers said.
Overall, the infection rate for the winter flu seasons as calculated in the study were an average of 22 times higher than the rates recorded by standard methods.
"Reported cases of influenza represent the tip of a large clinical and subclinical iceberg that is mainly invisible to national surveillance systems that only record cases seeking medical attention," study lead author Dr. Andrew Hayward, of University College London, said in a journal new release.
"Most people don’t go to the doctor when they have the flu" he added. "Even when they do consult they are often not recognized as having influenza. Surveillance based on patients who consult greatly underestimates the number of community cases, which in turn can lead to overestimates of the proportion of cases who end up in the hospital or die."
An important question that needs to be answered is whether people who have the flu but have only mild or no symptoms can still easily pass on the virus, Dr. Peter William Horby from the Oxford University Clinical research Unit in Vietnam, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
Even if only mildly infectious, a large number of these people could play a major role in spreading flu each season, he suggested.
MY TAKE:
The symptoms associated with the flu are the result of the body’s immune response rather than the presence of the virus itself. Some of the more dangerous forms of influenza, like the Spanish Flu and its descendant H1N1 can be fatal only because the immune system reacts so violently to the infection, the infiltration of WBCs (white blood cells) into the lungs literally drowns the host. That’s why these flu epidemics kill young healthy adults rather than the very young and very old who have little immune response to challenge the virus.
Autoimmune diseases, like MS, Crohn’s Disease, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, are also a result of an overactive immune system and thought to be triggered by viral infections and other foreign bodies that find their way into the blood stream. Eighty-five percent of emerging disease is autoimmune in nature. I fear that the rapid spread of viral infections in our global population, along with the high mutation rates of viral infections is the driving force behind much of autoimmune disease.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If someone around has the flu, you are probably infected as well, even if you never develop any symptoms. To protect against colds and flues, a daily dose of Echinacea is recommended. It takes two weeks for Echinacea to reach its’ full potential in the immune system. Then it acts as a modulator rather than just stimulating the immune system. It can protect against an overt over active immune response to H1N1 as well as stimulate a response to a more passive virus. Eighty percent of the Echinacea sold in the US is not Echinacea or is made from the wrong plant species or wrong plant parts. Fortunately, good Echinacea will make your tongue “tingle” within a minute or so of placing it on the tongue. That’s an easy test to see if you are taking the real thing.
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