A center that does primary research in cancer in the news again on the Bird Flu frontlines... maybe those researchers are willing to look outside the box?.... who knows but the research is promising.
St. Jude scientists produce vaccine that could fight bird flu
Memphis Business Journal - 11:16 AM CDT Tuesday
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have hit the Holy Grail of flu vaccines, successfully protecting mice and ferrets with a commercial product expected to also protect humans against bird flu.
Richard Webby, Ph.D., assistant member of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude, will present the findings Wednesday at the U.S. Public Health Service Professional Conference in Denver.
A St. Jude scientist, Erich Hoffmann, developed a technique to reverse engineer viruses, breaking them down into eight pieces. From there it's a simple process to reassemble the virus but swap out some of the components, and create a perfect vaccine.
That technology was central to developing the vaccine, by Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) of San Diego.
Researchers used two versions of Vical's vaccine. One targets three distinct proteins, the other targets two of those proteins. By disrupting the proteins' ability to mutate, the virus is unable to morph into new versions. One reason avian flu is so vicious is that it can change constantly, dodging the immune system.
Researchers tested the vaccines against the most virulent version of bird flu virus, which has killed people in Vietnam.
By targeting the proteins common to different versions of the virus, the vaccines provide cross-protection.
"Such cross-protection against bird and human influenza is considered by researchers to be the Holy Grail of flu vaccines," Webby said in a statement. "Even if the bird flu virus mutates so it becomes adapted to humans, this kind of cross protection will allow the immune system to track and attack such an emerging new variant without missing a beat."
St. Jude scientists produce vaccine that could fight bird flu
Memphis Business Journal - 11:16 AM CDT Tuesday
Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have hit the Holy Grail of flu vaccines, successfully protecting mice and ferrets with a commercial product expected to also protect humans against bird flu.
Richard Webby, Ph.D., assistant member of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude, will present the findings Wednesday at the U.S. Public Health Service Professional Conference in Denver.
A St. Jude scientist, Erich Hoffmann, developed a technique to reverse engineer viruses, breaking them down into eight pieces. From there it's a simple process to reassemble the virus but swap out some of the components, and create a perfect vaccine.
That technology was central to developing the vaccine, by Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL) of San Diego.
Researchers used two versions of Vical's vaccine. One targets three distinct proteins, the other targets two of those proteins. By disrupting the proteins' ability to mutate, the virus is unable to morph into new versions. One reason avian flu is so vicious is that it can change constantly, dodging the immune system.
Researchers tested the vaccines against the most virulent version of bird flu virus, which has killed people in Vietnam.
By targeting the proteins common to different versions of the virus, the vaccines provide cross-protection.
"Such cross-protection against bird and human influenza is considered by researchers to be the Holy Grail of flu vaccines," Webby said in a statement. "Even if the bird flu virus mutates so it becomes adapted to humans, this kind of cross protection will allow the immune system to track and attack such an emerging new variant without missing a beat."
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