Peptides-based vaccine targets flu virus

Georgia State University researchers maintain a new peptides-based vaccine protects mice against influenza A virus.

Investigators said the double-layered nanoparticle vaccine was developed using peptides, compounds consisting of two or more amino acids linked in a chain because they are much smaller than proteins.

The nanoparticles mimic the biological cues of viruses and initiate danger signals that activate immune responses.

Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness that infects the nose, throat, and lungs while serving as a persistent threat to public health while being one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

Findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed the peptide-only, double-layered nanoparticles induced long-lasting protective immunity and guarded mice against exposure to influenza A virus.

“The adaptive immune system includes B lymphocytes mediating antibody responses and T lymphocytes mediating cellular responses,” Dr. Bao-Zhong Wang, the study’s senior author and associate professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State, said. “Our novel nanoparticles trigger immune responses of both immune branches. The immune protection has also been improved by using a new syringe-free, painless, thermostable and self-applicable microneedle patch. No doubt, these findings will open a new vision for the development of an affordable universal influenza vaccine.”