Xiaojian Zhang, Hua Shi, Ted M. Ross. Multivalent H3 COBRA-based influenza vaccine elicits enhanced immune response in a pre-immune elderly ferret model. Vaccine, 2025
Influenza viruses cause significant mortality in humans, especially among people 65 years and older. The outbreaks of A(H3N2) influenza viruses or viruses of vaccine-mismatched strains are usually associated with more severe diseases in elderly population. Vaccination is the practical countermeasure for controlling influenza virus infection in humans. However, the immune responses elicited by current influenza vaccines in elderly are not as robust as those responses elicited in younger adults. There is an urgent need for a universal influenza virus vaccine that can induce broadly protective immunity against viral infection in elderly individuals. Currently, influenza virus vaccines that target conserved epitopes on a variety of influenza virus antigens are under evaluation. However, almost all these vaccine candidates are evaluated in adult animal models. In this study, we evaluated Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigen (COBRA)-based influenza vaccines in elderly ferrets with pre-existing immunity to historical influenza viruses to assess the breadth of vaccine induced protective antibody responses. Vaccination of elderly ferrets with Infectimune? adjuvanted mixtures of COBRA hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) recombinant protein vaccines elicited robust binding antibodies against all components in the vaccine. Vaccine formulations with multiple H3 COBRA HA components significantly enhanced hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) activity against H3N2 viruses. In addition, elderly ferrets vaccinated with multivalent COBRA HA and NA vaccines were protected from infection with reduced nasal virus shedding. Overall, a multivalent COBRA HA and NA vaccine may be an effective vaccine strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality in the elderly.
See Also:
Latest articles in those days:
- Engineered Bacillus subtilis to deliver dsRNA via extracellular vesicles against the H9N2 avian influenza virus 3 hours ago
- [preprint]Spatiotemporal dynamics and ecological risk factors of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in Canadian wildlife: A One Health surveillance analysis 3 hours ago
- Epidemiological and Virological Characteristics of H9N2 Avian Influenza Virus in Jiangsu Province, China, 2024 15 hours ago
- Innate Pathway Selection Modulates Antibody and T-Cell Responses to Mosaic Influenza Nucleoprotein in Cattle 1 days ago
- Game Over for the Baseline: Influenza Hospitalization Patterns Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic (FluSurv-NET, 2009–2025) 1 days ago
[Go Top] [Close Window]


