Development of a Universal Vaccine Against Influenza

Influenza A virus remains a seasonal threat with high morbidity and mortality, and constantly the possibility of devastating pandemic outbreaks of animal origin.

Seasonal vaccines offer moderate protection against the vaccinating strain but need yearly reformulation and re-administration. Importantly, in case of pandemic outbreaks the lead time for vaccine production is over six months.

Therefore, there is an intense interest for a universal influenza vaccine which could protect against most circulating viral strains.

In the framework of my previous grant, we have demonstrated that such universal vaccines are able to generate B cell and antibody responses.

Further, we have developed a computationally designed immunogen which can generate antibodies against all tested human and avian Hemagglutinins (HA).

In this proof-of-concept study we will assess the ability of such immunogens to generate cross-reactive serum antibodies in naïve, pre-immunized (with seasonal vaccines) or pre-infected mice, by using a novel electron microscopy polyclonal epitope mapping (EMPEM) method.

Further, we will determine the protective capacity of such immunogens against infection with a wide array of influenza viruses.

Overall, our results will represent an important pre-clinical validation of our computationally designed immunogens before proceeding to phase I clinical trials.