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Abstract
Influenza vaccines used today are strain specific and need to be adapted every year to try and match the antigenicity of the virus strains that are predicted to cause the next epidemic. The strain specificity of the next pandemic is unpredictable. An attractive alternative approach would be to use a vaccine that matches multiple influenza virus strains, including multiple subtypes. In this review, we focus on the development and clinical potential of a vaccine that is based on the conserved ectodomain of matrix protein 2 (M2) of influenza A virus. Since 1999, a number of studies have demonstrated protection against influenza A virus challenge in animal models using chemical or genetic M2 external domain (M2e) fusion constructs. More recently, Phase I clinical studies have been conducted with M2e vaccine candidates, demonstrating their safety and immunogenicity in humans. Ultimately, and possibly in the near future, efficacy studies in humans should provide proof that this novel vaccine concept can mitigate epidemic and even pandemic influenza A virus infections.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
Influenza vaccine research in the group of Xavier Saelens and Walter Fiers is supported by Acambis Inc. (now Sanofi Pasteur), NIH grant 1 R01 AI055632-01A1, Ghent University BOF B/05930/01 and IOF Stepstone IOF08/STEP/001 grants, and fellowships from FWO-Vlaanderen and IWT. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.