Calling for Reinforcements: A New Way to Recruit Immune System Helpers Could Lead to Better Flu Vaccines

Calling for Reinforcements: A New Way to Recruit Immune System Helpers Could Lead to Better Flu Vaccines https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/helper-t-cells-better-flu-vaccines?utm_campaign=+63468942&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term= Each year, flu causes hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of hospitalizations worldwide. Although the best way to protect against serious illness is annual vaccination, the influenza vaccine’s effectiveness is not perfect. Now, NIH-funded researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a new approach to crafting flu vaccines that resulted, both in mice and human tonsil tissue, in a more broadly protective immune response compared to currently available flu vaccines.