Coronavirus: how close are we to a “universal vaccine” against influenza and other respiratory diseases?

Dr. Daniel Hoft works in a hotel that guarantees that his guests will not have a pleasant holiday.

In fact, he recognizes that the place is nothing fancy and that those who stay there They get bored a lot.

In the best case “It’s a tolerable place”, as Hoft tells BBC Mundo.

Its about Hotel Influenza (Flu Hotel) located at the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of St. Louis in Missouri, United States.

Dr. Hoft is a medical specialist in infectious diseasessas and director of this research center.

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Their guests are volunteers to whom before entering the hotel an experimental vaccine is applied and during their stay they are intentionally exposed to the virus of the influenza, as part of a research program for vaccine development.

These types of experiments are called “studies of human challenge” and part of its goal is to find a “universal vaccine” that protects against all types of influenza for a prolonged period of time.

But fighting contagious diseases requires much more than a polluted hotel. Viruses are an enemy that moves quickly and constantly transforms to avoid being caught.

How is this battle and how close are the experts to achieve a universal vaccine that avoids more epidemics that spread throughout the world?

An old enemy

Although these days the coronavirus makes headlines, the influenza virus has been wreaking havoc for centuries.

“It’s one of the biggest problems we have every year worldwide,” says Hoft. “People think it is not a problem as big as Ebola or covid-19, mainly because it is not a new problem but a continuous one.”

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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year the flu epidemic leaves between 3 and 5 million people severely infected, and between 290,000 and 650,000 deaths.

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Between 1918 and 1919, a pandemic of the H1N1 flu virus left about 50 million people dead in just 18 months.

“That could happen again with avian flu that are being observed in China, like the H5 and H7 viruses, “warns Hoft.

A moving target

To face this risk, scientists work against the clock on a vaccine that can protect people against all strains of influenza. A homework not easy.

“The biggest difficulty is how fast the influenza virus mutates,” Hoft explains.

The influenza virus can be of four types A, B, C or D. It also has the ability to mingle with strains that come from other species such as birds or pigs.

When that happens, you can create a new flu virus never seen by people, which increases the contagion potential

It’s like a target that moves every time doctors have it in the sights.

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Another risk that researchers face is that they do not know how the virus will react to the presence of vaccine.

According to Hoft, one possibility is that before an immunological reaction the virus begins to mutate more than it normally would. Although this is not very frequent, Hoft says that it is something that It can certainly happen.

“The virus can surprise us about what we know about him, “says the doctor.

The strategies

One of the most used approaches to achieve the universal vaccine is to try to identify the parts of the virus that do not change, so that you can target all viruses.

Another tactic is to expand the targets targeted by the vaccine, that is, attack more virus molecules.

Another approach is that used by Dr. Hoft in his hotel.

His tactic is to induce a immune response against the internal proteins of the virus, using T cells, specialized cells to protect the body from infections.

These T cells can identify and destroy protein of the virus present in different strains of influenza, so what Hoft seeks is to stimulate the work of these cells in different variants of the virus.

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“Our goal is to expand the immune response, to try to cover the viruses that mutate for a long period of time, “says Hoft.

Although there is no way to predict it, Hoft estimates that within the next 5 to 10 years there is likely to be a way to expand the scope of an immune response.

“It will probably take longer to achieve universal vaccines better optimized that can broadly protect against at least type A influenza, “says the researcher.

Lessons for the coronavirus

The complicated search for a universal influenza vaccine can give clues to attack epidemics like that of the new coronavirus.

“That is a more complicated matter,” says Hoft. “In this point we don’t know enough about coronaviruses to be able to talk about a universal vaccine for all coronaviruses. “

The task, as with influenza, would take years. In addition to proving its effectiveness, it would also take time to test How safe it is for humans.

But maybe, It is not impossible.

Most coronaviruses have a protein on their surface that they use to adhere to the cells that are infecting, according to Florian Krammer, professor of vaccine development at the Icahn School of Medicine in the US, in a portal article The Verge

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That protein, says Krammer, may be the target to which note the universal coronavirus vaccine.

For his part, Hoft says that the first step is to get a vaccine that works for a coronavirus.

“If we have a technology that works for a coronavirus and we manage to replace the variable part of each other (virus type), it is more feasible to produce a vaccine for a new virus so faster“.

For now, Hoft and his colleagues will continue trying to hunt their mobile target, hoping that finally the Hotel Influenza will stay one day No guests

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