An adjuvant called azoximer bromide could triple the effectiveness of the flu vaccine, Russian researchers have discovered.
Each year, the flu kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world and new epidemics spread. Also, many researchers are working to develop more effective and universal vaccines against this virus which continues to evolve. A few weeks ago, American scientists announced that they had discovered new combinations of antibodies that can bind to the surface of influenza viruses. Today, it is Russian researchers who are talking about them. They would have discovered an adjuvant capable of tripling the effectiveness of the flu vaccine. Even better: according to their results presented at a Russian-Chinese congress on infectious diseases held in Saint-Petersburg (Russia) from November 5 to 7, the potential use of this adjuvant would not be limited to influenza vaccines.
An adjuvant is an “enemy” molecule that the immune system can fight with antibodies. Adding an adjuvant to a vaccine therefore increases the immune response to the injected antigen. Also, if a vaccine is produced with adjuvants, fewer active substances are needed to manufacture it.
For twenty years, the Russian laboratory Petrovax has been testing an adjuvant with “universal” potential which meets world standards for efficacy and safety, azoximer bromide, in influenza vaccines. Recently he tried it on mice. The animals were divided into four groups. The latter received an injection of vaccine antigens with and without adjuvant, a vaccine with a standard quantity of the antigen or even a vaccine solution used as a placebo.
The fewer antigens, the lower the risk of side effects
The researchers were thus able to observe that in the presence of azoximer bromide, the vaccine containing a lower quantity of antigens was as effective as that whose antigen content was three times higher. This adjuvant would also have the ability to rapidly increase the activity of dendritic cells which fight infected cells more quickly. “As soon as such a cell reaches a lymph node, the immune response begins to develop and the body’s defenses are formed,” note the study authors. In particular, this results in a more efficient response and a shorter recovery time.
“The use of adjuvants makes it possible to apply a so-called antigen saving strategy. If more vaccines are produced from the same amount of antigens, manufacturing can be launched more quickly and more people can be vaccinated in a shorter time, which is extremely important in times of epidemics.. In addition, antigens are proteins that are foreign to our body, and the less we inject, the lower the risk of side effects”, welcomes Alexey Matveichev, director of the center for preclinical studies of Petrovax.
According to the expert, vaccines based on azoximer bromide have been used in Russia and many other states since 1996. Previous research has also demonstrated its ability to activate the immune response to a wide range of other agents. pathogens affecting both animals and humans, explains the researcher. Also, the potential use of this adjuvant is not limited to influenza vaccines.
More than 8,000 flu deaths in France during the winter of 2018-2019
These announcements are timely as traditional influenza vaccines do not offer protection against new influenza viruses with pandemic potential that have changed. As for seasonal influenza viruses, they constantly mutate, leading to antigenic mismatch requiring annual reformulation of seasonal influenza vaccines. It is therefore necessary to constantly optimize the production of new vaccines against seasonal influenza and to develop new vaccine approaches against pandemic viruses.
In the meantime, to face the seasonal flu that arrives in France, all citizens are encouraged to get vaccinated with serum covered by health insurance. The vaccination campaign started on October 15 and it is now possible to receive the injection in pharmacies. In this way, health authorities hope to avoid last year’s terrible figures this year, because during the winter of 2018/2019, more than 10,000 people were hospitalized with flu symptoms and more than 1,800 people were admitted in intensive care unit. A total of 8,100 deaths are attributed to the flu over this period.
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