Why don't flu shots always work?
Why don't flu shots always work?
Searching for a universal flu vaccine.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
SOPHIA CAI: It seems like every year doctors and worried mothers want us to get a flu shot so we can avoid the fever, aches, and pains of the dreaded influenza virus. And it's true, we should. But why do we need one every year? And hey, why don't they always work? Stick around for answers to find out about an even better option, the ever-elusive universal flu shot we've all been waiting for. Yeah, I have been waiting for it. Haven't you?
Hey, everybody. Sophia here. There are dozens of types of influenza viruses that cause flu symptoms. Remember, the swine flu? That's the H1N1 virus. The avian flu? That's H5N1. These letters and numbers identify variations in two different proteins on the surface of an influenza virus-- H for hemagglutinin, which has 18 subtypes, and N for neuraminidase, which comes in 11 varieties.
Every year, experts from the CDC and flu research centers worldwide pick the strains they think will be most prevalent. Private companies then create flu shots containing antigens from those specific strains. Antigens are essentially little biochemical flags that wave on the surface of viruses to signal which strain they are. These antigen flags also signal to your body that it's time to create antibodies.
Antibodies circulate in your bloodstream, looking for antigens. And once they find them, they tell your body to launch a full-blown immune response and protect itself against these invaders. So a flu shot is like an inverse guest list for the party that is your body. A vaccine tells your immune system who to bounce when they show up. The trouble is flu viruses are constantly mutating, which causes their antigens to change all the time-- from year to year or even over one flu season. Scientists call this annoying behavior antigenic drift.
Flu experts have to pick out which strains of viruses to include in a vaccine months before flu season kicks off so companies can produce and distribute the vaccine in time. If experts guess wrong, your antibodies won't recognize the invading flu viruses. And they won't stop you from getting sick, even though you went through all the trouble of going to the pharmacy and getting your flu shot to make your mom happy. I got mine, mom.
So wouldn't it be great if scientists could create a vaccine that would work on any flu strain, no matter what antigen flag it's flying? A universal flu vaccine, if you will. Well, research from this year suggests that scientists are getting closer to coming up with one. Scientists have focused their efforts on understanding hemagglutinin stems, called HA stems. These HA stems are basically standardized flagpoles that various viruses use to fly their antigen flags. Two different research groups have created HA stems for a single vaccine to protect against multiple flu strains.
Even better, that might mean you wouldn't have to get a flu shot every year, maybe just every 5 or 10, depending on how good your body is at remembering the antigens. So far they've tested these new vaccines in mice, ferrets, and non-human primates, many of which have been protected from the flu. But humans have a unique immune system, so clinical trials in people will really be the definitive next step. So here's to hoping that researchers can take the guesswork out of flu shots and that they guessed right this year.
Hey, everybody. Sophia here. There are dozens of types of influenza viruses that cause flu symptoms. Remember, the swine flu? That's the H1N1 virus. The avian flu? That's H5N1. These letters and numbers identify variations in two different proteins on the surface of an influenza virus-- H for hemagglutinin, which has 18 subtypes, and N for neuraminidase, which comes in 11 varieties.
Every year, experts from the CDC and flu research centers worldwide pick the strains they think will be most prevalent. Private companies then create flu shots containing antigens from those specific strains. Antigens are essentially little biochemical flags that wave on the surface of viruses to signal which strain they are. These antigen flags also signal to your body that it's time to create antibodies.
Antibodies circulate in your bloodstream, looking for antigens. And once they find them, they tell your body to launch a full-blown immune response and protect itself against these invaders. So a flu shot is like an inverse guest list for the party that is your body. A vaccine tells your immune system who to bounce when they show up. The trouble is flu viruses are constantly mutating, which causes their antigens to change all the time-- from year to year or even over one flu season. Scientists call this annoying behavior antigenic drift.
Flu experts have to pick out which strains of viruses to include in a vaccine months before flu season kicks off so companies can produce and distribute the vaccine in time. If experts guess wrong, your antibodies won't recognize the invading flu viruses. And they won't stop you from getting sick, even though you went through all the trouble of going to the pharmacy and getting your flu shot to make your mom happy. I got mine, mom.
So wouldn't it be great if scientists could create a vaccine that would work on any flu strain, no matter what antigen flag it's flying? A universal flu vaccine, if you will. Well, research from this year suggests that scientists are getting closer to coming up with one. Scientists have focused their efforts on understanding hemagglutinin stems, called HA stems. These HA stems are basically standardized flagpoles that various viruses use to fly their antigen flags. Two different research groups have created HA stems for a single vaccine to protect against multiple flu strains.
Even better, that might mean you wouldn't have to get a flu shot every year, maybe just every 5 or 10, depending on how good your body is at remembering the antigens. So far they've tested these new vaccines in mice, ferrets, and non-human primates, many of which have been protected from the flu. But humans have a unique immune system, so clinical trials in people will really be the definitive next step. So here's to hoping that researchers can take the guesswork out of flu shots and that they guessed right this year.