title: Universal influenza virus vaccines and therapeutic antibodies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Current influenza virus vaccines are effective when well matched to the circulating strains. Unfortunately, antigenic drift and the high diversity of potential emerging zoonotic and pandemic viruses make it difficult to select the right strains for vaccine production. This problem causes vaccine mismatches, which lead to sharp drops in vaccine effectiveness and long response times to manufacture matched vaccines in case of novel pandemic viruses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To provide an overview of universal influenza virus vaccines and therapeutic antibodies in preclinical and clinical development.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed and clinicaltrials.gov were used as sources for this review.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Universal influenza virus vaccines that target conserved regions of the influenza virus including the haemagglutinin stalk domain, the ectodomain of the M2 ion channel or the internal matrix and nucleoproteins are in late preclinical and clinical development. These vaccines could confer broad protection against all influenza A and B viruses including drift variants and thereby abolish the need for annual re-formulation and re-administration of influenza virus vaccines. In addition, these novel vaccines would enhance preparedness against emerging influenza virus pandemics. Finally, novel therapeutic antibodies against the same conserved targets are in clinical development and could become valuable tools in the fight against influenza virus infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both universal influenza virus vaccines and therapeutic antibodies are potential future options for the control of human influenza infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: Raffael.Nachbagauer@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nachbagauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: Florian.krammer@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Krammer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D006801:Humans; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000276:immunology* / Q000592:standards; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D007252:Influenza Vaccines
keywords: Influenza vaccine; Monoclonal antibody therapeutics; Pandemic influenza; Seasonal influenza; Universal influenza virus vaccine; Zoonotic influenza