This support, which is a modified liposome, has the advantage of being able to simultaneously target several pathogens and therefore allow the immune system to combat different viral strains or even different types of microbial infections at the same time. We immediately think of flu viruses such as influenza and COVID-19, which were the subject of animal testing by the Buffalo team. In addition to being stable at room temperature, these vaccines can be produced quickly. In addition, they can be freeze-dried, therefore reduced to powder, to facilitate their distribution which lowers their cost.
Concerning influenza, this new type of vaccine will undoubtedly not avoid annual vaccination, but it will prevent health professionals from having to predict each year (sometimes with more or less success) what will be the dominant strain in circulation. The effectiveness of the vaccine should therefore be improved.
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Go further in prevention with vaccination
Could we go even further in the next steps in immunology? Would it be possible, for example, to anticipate the natural evolution of viruses by making them evolve under control in the laboratory at an accelerated pace so as to be able to know in advance their different structures resulting from their natural mutations and thus produce with the corresponding antigens a vaccine which would be effective for 3 or 4 or even several years? The trick would be an all the more interesting avenue to explore as the new technique recently developed would make it possible to bring together on the same support several of these new antigens which would result from this manipulation.
