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Scientists, researchers, and healthcare professionals have long dreamed of a universal influenza vaccine: a vaccine that will protect against any strain of influenza. The dream took one step closer to reality with the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), . A universal vaccine would protect vaccinated individuals even when the seasonal circulating strains don’t match those predicted to be most widespread.

The vaccine, called H1ssF_3928, will undergo assessment for safety and immunogenicity in people. Volunteer subjects are currently being recruited and will be tested for vaccine tolerability and immune response to vaccination. Antibodies from vaccinated subjects will be tested for neutralization of the H1 influenza A virus (IAV) on which the vaccine is based, as well as neutralization of IAVs with other hemagglutinin types. have shown the conserved regions of H1 used in the vaccine, which use a self-assembling ferritin component to generate a nanoparticle delivery system, have produced broadly protective antibodies in animal models.

This isn’t the only ongoing clinical trial for a universal flu vaccine. A for a universal vaccine based on the influenza virus M protein, with a planned . The M protein is much more highly conserved between influenza virus strains; the prediction is that reactivity against this protein will be cross-protective against multiple influenza strains.

The predictions for clinical trial success among the scientific community are mixed. Michael Osterholm, Director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, “I don’t think we’re that close at all,” in response to a to develop a universal vaccine released in March 2018 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. However, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said in a that the new Phase 1 clinical trial “is a step forward in our efforts to develop a durable and broadly protective universal influenza vaccine.”

Further Reading:

• The Scientist:
• ClinicalTrials.gov:
• ClinicalTrials.gov: