Media Availability: Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Protects Mice from Many Flu Strains

Media Availability: Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Protects Mice from Many Flu Strains

Virus-like Particle Vaccine Protects Mice from Many Flu Strains

A vaccine that protects against a wide variety of flu viruses—a universal flu vaccine—is a critical public health goal. Now, NIAID scientists have devised a way to induce protective immunity, in mice, with an experimental flu vaccine that incorporates key flu virus surface proteins from four of the 16 distinct flu subtypes. Vaccinated mice exposed to flu strains that were not part of the vaccine were nevertheless protected. The approach may be useful in the development of a universal flu vaccine for people.