On the way to creating a ‘universal’ flu vaccine
January 22nd, 2018‘…..The key to the new vaccine is an understanding of the interactions between the virus and interferons, which are proteins that are critical to the body’s immune response. Interferons have two main functions: one is a first line of defense to kill invading viruses very quickly; a second is to coordinate the adaptive immune responses, which provide long-lasting protection against the virus. The latter is the basis of vaccination.
“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,” said Sun, who also is a professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. “For these reasons, viruses have evolved strategies to evade detection and limit the production of interferons by host organisms.”……’