title: Changing perspective on immunization against influenza.
abstract: Current vaccination strategies against influenza rely on decades old technology of strain selection and prolonged labor-intensive, embryonated chicken-egg based production methods. Although, containing both major surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA), the immunity engendered by these vaccines is dominated by the anti-HA response. Consequently, current vaccines are susceptible to failure resulting from significant antigenic drift or shift in the time elapsing from the selection of the vaccine candidate strain and wild-type virus exposure. Therefore, immunity may be of short duration. There must be a change in vaccine strategy to include immunization with both HA and NA to broaden the immune response against influenza. Inclusion of the more slowly evolving NA in a vaccine against influenza will reduce the vulnerability to antigenic changes in a potential emerging influenza virus. Alternative production technologies such as recombinant baculovirus and yeast should be explored to decrease vaccine production times.
authors.affiliation: Innovation Sciences, Armonk, NY 10504, USA. bertjoh@pol.net
authors.forename: Bert E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Brett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; D007252:Influenza Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D009439:Neuraminidase