Stalking the Mutating Monster

W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology

Wily and relentless, the eight-gene influenza virus infects about 1 billion people worldwide and kills hundreds of thousands each year. A pandemic strain can kill tens of millions. The challenge for scientists: Catching up to a constantly moving target. "It's almost inevitable. You introduce one pressure, and the virus will find a way around it," says virologist Andy Pekosz. It evades scientists' best efforts because two key proteins on the surface of the virus frequently mutate. By the time you get your annual flu shot, the virus circulating in the population may have already changed enough to negate the vaccine's effectiveness. (Or experts might not have predicted the right strains to include in the vaccine to begin with.)

Pekosz's quest: A universal vaccine that would protect against any strain of the virus, including the most deadly of all, the one that can launch a global pandemic. Instead of targeting the shifty surface proteins, Pekosz is engineering two vaccines based on a protein called M2, which is virtually the same in all strains of influenza. Studies conducted over the past few years have shown the experimental vaccines appear to provide even stronger immune protection in animal models than conventional flu vaccines.

It's an ongoing battle, but Pekosz relishes the challenge. "There must be a way to prevent the virus from circulating," he says. 'It's just a matter of finding the right approaches."