Skip to main content

New DNA vaccine could lead to a one-dose universal vaccine for the flu

vaccine blowing nose
Eugenio Marongiu/Getty Images
One of the reasons it’s so difficult to create a cure for the flu is because the virus continually shape-shifts from year to year. That means getting annual flu shots, instead of a more permanent solution to the problem. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine may have just changed the game, however. Investigators in Professor Deborah Fuller’s lab have developed a DNA vaccine that could lead to a universal, one-dose flu vaccine.

“The current flu vaccine is an inactivated virus,” Fuller told Digital Trends. “The whole virus is first grown in eggs, then it’s inactivated and injected. DNA vaccines are different. Instead of producing the vaccines in eggs, we instead inject a genetic code for proteins from the virus into our own cells. Our cells then read the code and produce the viral proteins, [aka] antigens. When our immune system sees the antigens, it makes immune responses that can protect against influenza infection.”

The problem with current flu vaccines isn’t just the discomfort of having to undergo regular needle jabs. Because the vaccines take nearly nine months to manufacture in sufficient quantities to protect the population, they are based on a prediction surrounding what the following year’s flu virus is going to look like. As with all predictions, this can be inaccurate, meaning that the vaccine won’t be as effective as it could be. DNA vaccines can be produced far more quickly (in three months or less), which makes them a valuable tool in the face of a potential pandemic.

“In our paper, we replicated experimentally in monkeys a situation that [was] similar to the 2009 influenza pandemic, where a new strain of influenza unexpectedly emerged and current vaccines offered little or no protection,” Fuller said. “We vaccinated the monkeys with the same antigens included in the inactivated vaccine that year, but then also added, via our DNA vaccine, the genetic code for conserved influenza antigens. When we challenged the monkeys with the 2009 pandemic strain of influenza, we saw significant protection in the group that got the vaccine. They experienced only a transient low infection that was quickly cleared, when compared to the group that didn’t get the vaccine.”

As to when a final universal flu vaccine will be rolled out to patients, Fuller says that, “it’s no longer a matter of if, but rather when.” While it’s difficult to predict an exact timeline, she believes the first universal vaccine will come to market in 5 to 10 years. Her team is also working on a special “gene gun” for injecting these vaccines, for which Fuller has co-founded a biotech startup.

A paper describing this work was recently published in the journal PLOS One.

Editors' Recommendations

Tech for Change: At CES 2021, new devices and tech aim to help beat COVID-19
coronavirus covid tech prevention ces 2021 misty robot

Thanks to several vaccines developed at mind-bending speed from our nation’s brightest scientists, there is at least a road map to the fight against COVID-19, which has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. But let’s be clear: It’s going to be a battle, and while the vaccine is rolled out and doctors and caregivers continue fighting, we must do everything we can to reduce the spread and limit the number of infections.

Fortunately, technology is there to help us. A variety of innovative companies and products coming to the CES 2021 show can help beat the novel coronavirus. Here’s a look at a few to keep your eyes on.

Read more
This vending machine gives out COVID tests, not candy bars
this vending machine gives out covid tests not candy bars test

From a distance, it looks like a regular candy bar dispenser, but get up close and you’ll quickly see that this is a vending machine with a difference.

For this one gives out not snacks but free COVID-19 tests.

Read more
Edit, undo: Temporary gene editing could help solve the mosquito problem
malaria

Mosquitos aren’t just a pest that nibble on you when you’re trying to get to sleep in the summertime; they’re by far the deadliest animals on the planet. According to the World Health Organization, mosquito bites cause the death of one million people each year. The majority of these are the result of malaria, one of the many human-affecting diseases these tiny bloodsuckers can carry.

For this reason, scientists trying to tackle these diseases have explored a range of potential solutions -- such as gene drives, referring to tiny fragments of DNA that can be inserted into a mosquito’s chromosomes to deplete populations in various ways.

Read more