DNA vaccines could be permanent protection against the flu

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What if we never have to suffer from the afflictions of “flu” or other immune-deficiency viruses?

What if there is a possibility to scientifically boost our immune system to be so much stronger than any influenza strain or virus?

What if there is a ‘one-shot’ vaccine that could carry out the above functionality in our body system?

Well, if you’ve had such thoughts and expectations like myself, then I think we are at the cusp of a great medical breakthrough. Reason being that a new research published by the medical journal PLOS One shows that a new DNA vaccine research could potentially lead to a universal protection against ‘flu’ with just 'one-dose'.

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Medical researchers and DNA scientists have for years sort to create the holy grail of flu vaccines; a universal one-dose flu vaccine, which could boast of multiple protective functions.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half a million people die every year from influenza.

With such statistics, the need and quest for an effective flu vaccine cannot be overemphasized as the economic and social costs related to casualties from ‘flu; have been almost impossible to calculate.

However, with researchers in the last couple of decades pushing persistently to come up with more effective DNA vaccines as against the more conventional intramuscular injections, the new research by the University Of Washington School Of Medicine could be the breakthrough needed for a universal flu shot.

Researchers led by Department of Microbiology professor, Deborah Fuller at the University of Washington School of Medicine Laboratory are developing a novel DNA vaccine that targets the genetic components of the virus.

Deborah Fuller whose laboratory is leading the innovative research says;

"Relatively speaking, DNA vaccination is the new kid on the block with regard to the types of vaccines."

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DNA Vaccines

Modern medical research has drifted towards the development of DNA vaccines. Our present traditional vaccines have over the years relied on using the whole forms of an organism to generate an immune response to fight flu infections, however DNA vaccines function by inserting a genetic code into the cell and directing the cell to produce a pathogenic antigen that would subsequently trigger an immune response within the body.

This point was highlighted by Deborah Fuller who said;

"We've been working essentially with the same vaccine (techniques) over the last 40 years."

"It's been a shake-and-bake vaccine: You produce the virus, you kill the virus, you inject it. Now it's time for vaccines to go through an overhaul, and this includes the influenza vaccine."

In comparison to traditonal vaccines, DNA vaccines offer more significant benefits

• They are cheaper and faster to make than current vaccine production methods
• They target fundamental genetic components of a virus
• They get around the problem of "genetic drift."
• Also, with a single shot they could protect against all influenza strains, both in the past and the future.

Although earlier studies of DNA vaccines struggled to prove that the technique was exceptionally effective, this was because researchers struggled to evoke a strong immune response using the DNA vaccines in human subjects. However, recent scientific advances in the delivery methods have helped reinvigorate studies and research in the field; as it has been recently discovered that dermal skin patches can induce better antibody responses than the more conventional intramuscular injections.

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The Breakthrough

The initial phase of animal studies of the latest DNA vaccine experiments for influenza has been showing promising and positive results. The DNA vaccine is reported to contain DNA coding for proteins from four different flu strains, as well as an extra protein considered to be more universally common amongs all flu strains.

The interesting and exciting part of the results from animal subject testing, showed that a strong immune response was triggered in the animals when they were exposed to four specific flu strains, but not only that, when exposed to other different flu strains they also showed a strong immune response. This signifies that the new DNA vaccine had a broader universal effect.

Fuller explained that;

"With the immunized groups, we found that using this conserved component of the virus gave them 100 percent protection against a previous circulating influenza virus that didn't match the vaccine. This was very exciting for us."

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In Conclusion

In terms of a far and wide-reaching solution to the influenza scourge, there is still a lot to that is expected, as medical science aims to keep breaking boundaries when it comes to medical revolution.

For the medical field of DNA vaccine research, it is still early days. The next couple of years could see major advancements in studies and experimentation. With no real human and commercial results from the present day studies, we could be looking at the next five to ten years in order to achieve clinical trials on human subjects with the aim of commercializing DNA vaccines.

However, it must be acknowledged that in the last century, one of the greatest human achievements in the field of science was the development of vaccines which has helped to save millions of lives all over the world from diseases such as polio and measles.
The robust studies in the field of DNA vaccine could be the new game-changer when it comes to vaccinations in the 21st century, as it could lead to the birth of a new and more effective technique of protection against various harmful diseases affecting lives today.

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Research Paper: PLOS One

Reference/Source: 1, 2, 3

Further Reading: Inhabitat, Med.news

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