# 7613
The most intriguing read of the morning, by far, is Helen Branswell’s long report that looks at a study that raises some red flags on the prospects of creating the Holy Grail of immunology; the Universal Flu Vaccine.
The problem, which we’ve discussed before, has recently been dubbed VAERD – or Vaccine Associated Enhanced Respiratory Disease.
Since no one covers these issues better than Helen, I’ll step aside and invite you to read her entire article, after which I’ll be back with a little more.
Study raises red flag for universal flu vaccine
By: Helen Branswell The Canadian Press, Published on Wed Aug 28 2013
Phenomenon, known as the “Canadian problem,” sees vaccination against one strain of flu actually seems to raise the risk of severe infection after exposure to a related but different strain
It is worth noting that 4 years ago, Helen Branswell, was among the first to report on the so-called `Canadian Problem’ (see Branswell On The Canadian Flu Shot Controversy).
First stop, the link to the study and abstract, which appears in the Journal Science Translational Medicine:
Sci Transl Med 28 August 2013:
Vol. 5, Issue 200, p. 200ra114
Sci. Transl. Med. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3006366Research Article
InfluenzaVaccine-Induced Anti-HA2 Antibodies Promote Virus Fusion and Enhance Influenza Virus Respiratory Disease
Surender Khurana, Crystal L. Loving, Jody Manischewitz, Lisa R. King, Phillip C. Gauger, Jamie Henningson, Amy L. Vincent, and Hana Golding
For those looking for more can examine contributing author Phillip C. Gauger’s 2012 186-page PhD dissertation - Characterization of vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) in swine administered an inactivated δ-cluster influenza vaccine and challenged with pandemic A/H1N1 virus - which is available from Iowa State University’s Digital Repository.
We’ve looked at other research studies in the past which dealt with related issues of OAS (Original Antigenic Sin) and ADE (Antigenic Dependent Enhancement), which you may wish to revisit.
Eurosurveillance: H7N9 Virus-Host Interactions & Age Shift
Last September, in ICAAC: Ferreting Out The `Canadian Problem’, we saw an interview with Dr. Danuta Skowronski, who was involved in the original Canadian studies, and who had recently duplicated the vaccine effect using ferrets in a double-blind study.
How VAERD and OAS and ADE all tie together, and their implications for the creation of a universal flu vaccine remains poorly understood.
What we are learning is that the human immune response is far more complex than we ever imagined and the constantly-changing antigenic face of influenza adds an even greater layer of complexity.
While the development of a `universal flu vaccine’ is a laudable (and hopefully, obtainable) goal – given the limits of our current understanding of our own immune system – a degree of caution remains warranted as research moves forward.
