A team of scientists led by three principal investigators at the Genomics Research Center of Academia Sinica has engineered a glycoprotein-based flu vaccine that induces a greater immune response and greater protection against H1N1 flu virus strains in mice and ferrets than the traditional vaccine. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on January 28, 2014, and highlighted on the cover page of the journal.

         The WHO estimates that influenza virus infections cause about half a million deaths worldwide each year. Vaccination is the most effective method to control and prevent influenza infection and the related fatalities. However, as influenza viruses are constantly mutating, the current egg-based or cell-based flu vaccines are only effective against closely matched circulating strains. To combat mutations, flu vaccines are reformulated every year. The reformulated vaccines are not always effective as their design is based on a prediction of the types of strains that will emerge in the coming season. Sometimes, the predictions are inaccurate, and the newly formulated vaccines are not effective, as illustrated by the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

         The group of researchers from the Genomics Research Center including Academia Sinica President Chi-huey Wong, Associate Research Fellow Che Alex Ma and Associate Research Fellow Kuo-I Lin recently engineered a new type of influenza vaccine that uses hemagglutinin (HA), an antigen present on the surface of influenza viruses that is commonly targeted by antibodies. They designed vaccines with various lengths of glycans (sugars) attached to the HA and inoculated mice and ferrets. They found that vaccines containing HA with only one sugar elicited a much larger immune response than the other vaccines. When the animals were inoculated with 3 flu strains the monoglycosylated HA (one sugar HA) provided much greater protection than the other vaccines. Further studies have elucidated the mechanism of the immune response to this new type of vaccine. Overall the results of the study suggest that vaccines with monoglycosylated hemaglutinin may confer broader protection against infection by different flu strains.

         Recent human cases of avian influenza caused by the H5N1, H7N9 and H6N1 viruses in Asia highlight the particularly pressing need in the region for an improved vaccine design that does not require frequent updates and annual immunizations, and that can provide cross-strain and cross-subtype protection.

         President Wong is an internationally recognized chemist. The development of carbohydrate-based vaccines is a major research focus of his group. The current research brings President Wong one-step closer to his ultimate goal of developing a universal vaccine. On January 17, it was announced that President Wong will be awarded the major scientific accolade, the 2014 Wolf Prize.

         The full article entitled “Vaccination of monoglycosylated hemagglutinin induces cross-strain protection against influenza virus infections” can be found at the PNAS website at: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/01/23/1323954111.abstract

         The complete list of authors is: Juine-Ruey Chen, Yueh-Hsiang Yu, Yung-Chieh Tseng, Wan-Ling Chiang, Ming-Feng Chiang, Yi-An Ko, Yi-Kai Chiu, Hsiu-Hua Ma, Chung-Yi Wu, Jia-Tsrong Jan, Kuo-I Lin, Che Ma, and Chi-Huey Wong