Antibody discovery leads researchers one step closer to universal influenza A vaccine

Aug 2 2011

"The first human antibody that can knock out all influenza A viruses has been shown effective in lab mice, an exciting step forward in the hunt for a universal vaccine, researchers said Friday," Agence France-Presse reports (Sheridan, 7/30).

"Writing in Science, the team said the antibody, called FI6, recognizes all 16 types of hemagglutinin found in influenza A viruses," CIDRAP News writes (Roos, 7/29). Researchers plan to investigate how the antibody can be used to make a vaccine, which "would need to trigger the human body's immune system to produce the antibody itself," BBC News notes (Gallagher, 7/29).