IAV is a major cause of respiratory illness worldwide and typically responsible for pandemic/epidemic infections. Given the disease severity, associated economic costs, and recent appearance of novel IAV strains, there is a renewed interest in developing novel and efficacious "universal" IAV vaccination strategies. Current IAV vaccines are designed to largely stimulate IAV antibodies but unlike natural infections, they do not induce B and T memory cells.
Iowa State University and University of Iowa inventors developed a polyanhydride nanoparticle-based IAV vaccine for intranasal administration, which is capable of providing robust protection against homologous and heterologous IAV infections. Vaccination with IAV-nanovax is associated with the induction of germinal center B cells within the lungs, gneration of systemic and lung local IAV-specific antibodies, and IAV-specific lung-resident memory CD4 and CD8 T cells. Thus, intranasal IAV-nanovax induced lung immunity is similar to the immune response that occurs during IAV infections. Furthermore, the vaccine might be useful for providing broad protection against IAV.
A vaccine with a broad or "universal" specificity would potentially provide a long-sought solution to IAV infections.