November 16, 2018

Each year influenza virus results in approximately 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations within the US. Further, the CDC estimates that yearly vaccination prevents an additional 5-7 million illnesses. While the current vaccines are effective, they must be matched each year to the current circulating strains as the virus continues to mutate away from our antibody mediated protection. Researchers in the Department of Pathology (Dr. Kevin Legge, Dr. Thomas Waldschmidt, and Zeb Zacharias) together with colleagues at Iowa State University (Dr. Balaji Narasimhan) recently published their results on a new “universal” nanovaccine against influenza virus in the journal Frontiers in Immunology. This nanoparticle-based vaccine, unlike the current influenza vaccine shot, was able to uniquely induce lung-resident T cell and B cell immunity at the site of infection and confer protection against both matched (homologous) and disparate (heterologous) influenza viruses in preclinical models. The publication led to a press release by the College of Medicine with resulting stories by several news outlets.

Article in Frontiers in Immunology

CCOM press release “Building a better flu vaccine”

The Daily Iowan report on the study

KCRG report on the study

KWWL report on the study