Scientists think the future of vaccination could lie in yeast rather than the current method of making injections from chicken eggs
A Marmite-style flu vaccine made from yeast could replace annual jabs, research claims. The study shows engineered baker’s yeast produces virus-like particles that protect mice against strains of deadly illnesses.
Currently, boffins rely on an 80-year-old costly method for producing flu injections from chicken eggs. And most vaccines target viral protein hemagglutinin (HA).
Now researchers have revealed a new way to make flu jabs, called M2, using a similar yeast to the famous sandwich spread.
Professor Fei Wen, from the University of Michigan in the US, said: “I would definitely anticipate that the M2 vaccine provides broader and longer protection than the current HA-focused vaccines.
“Can it be even longer than that, like once in a lifetime? Possibly, or maybe people will need a booster when they get older.”
And Prof Wen reckons engineered yeast strains could be “brewed” as oral vaccines for influenza and other diseases.
She added: “It sounds like science fiction, but we’re very excited by the potential of this yeast-based vaccine production system.”
Shocking figures show the influenza virus causes around 300,000 deaths and up to five million cases of severe illness globally every year.
Early results from the mice studies suggest the new way could end annual flu shots by providing “long-lasting protection” against a string of influenza strains.
Trang Hoang, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, focused on viral protein M2.
She said: “The influenza M2 protein is far less prone to mutation than HA.
“M2 has remained relatively conserved since the 1918 flu pandemic and shows high sequence conservation across human, swine, and avian influenza A strains.”
The boffins recently presented their findings to the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Chicago.