MY FIRST POST-we talked about this

An article in BBC news by James Gallagher states that researchers have found an antibody that can defend against all types of the influenza A virus. Scientists from the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill and colleagues in Switzerland observed more than 100,000 different samples of immune cells from patients who had the flu or a flu vaccine. The results of their research allowed the isolation of the F16 antibody, that protects against a protein called haemagglutinin, found on every influenza A virus. Sir John Skehel, MRC scientist at Mill Hill, said: "We've tried every subtype of influenza A and it interacts with them all. We eventually hope it can be used as a therapy by injecting the antibody to stop the infection." Researchers put their theory into practice, by experimenting on mice. The mice were injected with a lethal dose of the H1N1virus along with the F16 antibody. The antibody was “fully protective” against the virus, allowing the mice to survive. This was a promising new breakthrough in the hope of one day developing a universal vaccine. The vaccine would have to send signals to our immune system to be able to produce the antibody on our own. Sir John said the structure of the antibody and how it interacted with haemagglutinin had been worked out, which would help in the search for a vaccine, but that was "definitely years away". This research is very exciting, and brings hope to one day having a universal flu vaccine.

Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14324901