Llamas May One Day Help Prevent Influenza | MNN

Every year we line up for influenza vaccines hoping that the annual vaccine will be the right formula to fight this year's strain. It is filled with fragments of neutralized influenza virus that trigger the creation by the immune system of antibodies capable of destroying the active virus as it enters your body. In some years, the vaccine is more effective than others, but every year scientists need to see it again.

This is why the researchers hope to create a universal flu vaccine that would be effective against all strains of influenza and should not be changed every year. And llamas could play an important role in achieving this goal.

The researchers created a nasal spray derived from several llama antibodies that simultaneously target several strains of the flu. A new study found that these antibodies were able to protect mice from various influenza strains. Llama-derived antibodies can also survive longer without refrigeration, which could potentially make treatment of influenza less expensive.

"[Our approach] could potentially be used as a preventative year-to-year treatment and protect against seasonal flu as well as potential pandemics, such as bird flu, "Scripps Research biochemist Ian Wilson told PBS project of the study were published in the journal Science.

It will still take a few influenza seasons (and will require many more tests) for this spraying to be likely to be tested in humans. But researchers who have worked unsuccessfully to create a universal vaccine believe that it could work, said Science magazine. This could be particularly beneficial for the elderly, who are often the most affected by the flu and who do not get the best protection against annual vaccines. And since it would not have to be reformulated every year, it could be manufactured in bulk and stored in case of an influenza pandemic.

The immunologist Antonio Lanzavecchia, a leading researcher in the field of influenza vaccines at the Institute for Biomedicine Research in Bellinzona, Switzerland, told science: "It's a beautiful story that shows the power of antibody technology. "

Llamas may one day help prevent flu

Llamas have special antibodies that could be the key to a true universal flu shot.