Could llamas be the key to universal flu vaccine?

A multinational team of antibody engineers thinks so.

They’ve developed a new vaccine that protects against all strains of human flu, albeit only in mice so far, by leveraging an unusually small protein made by llamas and other members of the camel family.

By challenging these antibodies to combat human flu, the antibody engineers were able to craft a protein that could fight off the flu. Human testing remains — so there’s a long road ahead, including the chance that the human body might think the llama antibodies are an infectious agent — but the test offers hope that a universal flu vaccine is possible. In the meantime, there’s Xofluza https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm624226.htm?utm_source=Science+worth+knowing&utm_campaign=0df0b1a13a-Science+worth+knowing_12-21-17_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_83c20124eb-0df0b1a13a-297120749 — the first new, effective flu treatment in years.

By Jon Cohen

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