H7N9流感惡夢 將幻化成萬用流感疫苗 (University of Melbourne and Fudan University) __Nature Communications

注射一劑終身免疫 流感剋星可望成真發稿時間：2015/05/18 23:05 最新更新：2015/05/19 09:18 （中央社倫敦18日綜合外電報導）科學家宣稱，研發出抵抗多種類型流感，且打一針便終身有效的流感剋星疫苗夢想可望成真。英國「每日郵報」（Daily Mail）報導，澳洲和中國大陸研究人員說，已經「破解」人體抵禦這類疾病的「謎團」。他們認為，或許能將免疫系統提升至某個程度，就能對付任何類型的流感。澳洲研究人員和上海公共衛生臨床中心團隊從禽流感康復者身上採集T細胞樣本；這種白血球細胞在人體抵禦疾病方面至關重要。一般健康的免疫系統只能靠記憶，對抗曾遭遇過的感染和病毒等威脅。然而，研究發現，禽流感康復者體內含有大量稱為CD8+的「殺手」T細胞，能幫助身體抵抗從未入侵過的病毒。科學家希望利用這些T細胞樣本，研發出能夠抵抗多種類型流感，且打一針便終身有效的疫苗。若干批評人士認為，要研發出這種疫苗，比研究人員想像中要困難得多。不過研究執筆人、墨爾本大學（University of Melbourne）教授基德齊爾斯卡（Katherine Kedzierska）宣稱，研究團隊的發現具有重大意義。她說：「我們卓越的突破，可能促使科學家研發出能夠對抗所有新型流感病毒的疫苗組成要素，有朝一日可能研發出注射1劑便終身有效的萬用流感疫苗。」（譯者：中央社劉文瑜）1040518

Universal flu vaccine closer to reality after Chinese-Australian scientific breakthrough Scientists in Australia and China have discovered how the body's "assassin" immunity cells memorise viruses, raising hopes for a life-long flu jab  By Nicola Davison, Shanghai12:25PM BST 15 May 2015 A single vaccine that immunises against all types of influenza has come closer to being a reality, after scientists in Australia and China discovered how the body's immunity cells remember flu viruses. By studying patients infected with a deadly bird flu virus in China in 2013, scientists from the University of Melbourne and Fudan University in Shanghai discovered how the body's "army of hitmen" T-cells memorise specific flu strains and destroy them. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Communications on Wednesday, could lead to new cellular memory-implant technologies and a flu jab that would protect people for life. The breakthrough came when scientists analysed patients who had contracted H7N9, a particularly deadly form of avian flu that first transferred to humans when an elderly man bought a chicken from a live poultry market in Shanghai. A 67-year-old patient suffering from the H7N9 bird flu strain is treated in China (Reuters) "We'd never seen anything like H7N9," said Katherine Kedzierska, associate professor at the University of Melbourne and one of the authors of the study. Of the 602 people who have contracted H7N9, 38 per cent have died and almost all have been hospitalised with severe pneumonia or acute respiratory problems. Ms Kedzierska continued: "Thankfully, we did manage to contain the virus but we knew we had come face-to-face with a potential pandemic that could kill millions of people around the world if the virus became able to spread between humans." After collecting samples from H7N9-infected patients the scientists found that people who couldn't make the "flu assassin" CD8+T cells were dying. These T-cells are the "hitmen" of the immune system, efficiently eliminating virus-ridden cells. This observation allowed scientists to crack the riddle of how these killer T-cells take out new viruses – by retaining "memories" of the virus strains they encounter.

The findings will enlighten T-cell based vaccine development, moving from vaccines targeting specific influenza to a universal protection. "As it turns out, boosting the T-cell adaptive memory capacity is our way in," Ms Kedzierska added. The research should also help clinicians make early assessments of how well a patient's immune system will respond to viruses, potentially saving lives.