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SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) – Australian researchers have paved the way for a universal flu vaccine by identifying immune cells, called killer T cells, that can fight against all variants of the flu virus.
The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and Monash University revealed this joint effort on Tuesday as a "breakthrough discovery" that could lead to an influenza vaccine that would not need to be released. every day ".
Previous research had shown that these killer T cells were present in an immune response to some influenza A, B and C viruses, but not all.
"Influenza viruses continually mutate to escape the recognition of our immune system, and they are extremely diverse, making it almost impossible to predict and vaccinate against the strain that will cause the next influenza pandemic," said Marios Koutsakos. , researcher and doctoral student.
"We identified the parts of the virus that are common to all influenza strains and sub-strains that can infect humans, and then we examined whether we could find robust responses to these viral parts in humans. in good health, adults and children infected with the flu. "
This discovery was a breakthrough for the team, which will now focus on creating a universal influenza vaccine to reduce the impact of pandemics and seasonal flu around the world. .
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