CureVac and the German Federal Research Institute for Animal
Health, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Germany, reported
that mRNA vaccines could induce balanced, long-lived, and
protective immunity to influenza A virus infections in various
animal models. In the paper (published in Nature Biotechnology
on November 25), the authors described studies showing that an
mRNA vaccine encoding full-length influenza A/PuertoRico/8/1934
(PR8HA) hemagglutinin (HA) was immunogenic and induced anti-
influenza B- and T-cell responses in mice. They also reported
that they targeted additional influenza A virus strains by
sequence-matched, HA-specific vaccines, and that all vaccines
induced full protection against lethal infections, including
H1N1pdm09 swine flu and H5N1 bird flu virus. The mRNA vaccine
was immunogenic and provided long-term protection in newborn as
well as in aged mice. Further, the immunized mice were protected
through an antibody-dependent mechanism against death and
disease upon challenge with the influ