by A groundbreaking study published in Nature Communications from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reveals the effectiveness of an experimental mRNA vaccine in preventing severe illness and potential death from the avian influenza virus H5N1 in preclinical models. This vaccine could be instrumental in managing ongoing outbreaks of the virus in birds and cattle in the United States and shielding humans from infection.
Dr. Scott Hensley, a professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, explains the significance of mRNA technology in creating vaccines, stating, “mRNA technology allows us to be much more agile in developing vaccines. We can start creating an mRNA vaccine within hours of sequencing a new viral strain with pandemic potential.”
In collaboration with the lab of mRNA vaccine pioneer and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Drew Weissman, MD, Ph.D., the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research and Director of Vaccine Research at Penn Medicine, the researchers developed an mRNA vaccine targeting a specific subtype of the H5N1 virus that is prevalent among birds and cattle. Although the virus rarely infects humans, there are concerns that it may evolve and cause a human pandemic.
The mRNA vaccine elicited a robust antibody and T cell response in mice and ferrets, and the animals maintained high levels of antibodies even a year after vaccination. Traditional influenza vaccines are egg-based, requiring viruses to be adapted to replicate in fertilized eggs before production, which can take up to six months. mRNA vaccines, on the other hand, can be quickly adapted to protect against various influenza virus strains without the need for eggs.
Dr. Weissman adds, “Before 2020, influenza was considered the greatest risk for causing a pandemic, and we had limited options for creating a vaccine if that had happened. COVID-19 showed us the power of mRNA-based vaccines as a tool to protect humans from emerging viruses rapidly. We are now better prepared to respond to a variety of viruses with pandemic potential, including influenza.”
