The article “Flossing for Vaccines: A New Method to Deliver Immunizations” discusses a novel technique developed by researchers to deliver vaccines via dental floss. The method targets the junctional epithelium, a thin layer of tissue between the tooth and gum, which lacks barrier features and is more permeable than other epithelial tissues. This allows for enhanced antibody production across the body’s mucosal layers.

The researchers applied vaccine-coated floss to lab mice and compared antibody production in three different methods: via the junctional epithelium, nasal epithelium, or under the tongue. They found that applying vaccine via the junctional epithelium produced a superior antibody response on mucosal surfaces than the current gold standard for vaccinating via the oral cavity.

This technique has significant advantages beyond improved antibody response on mucosal surfaces. It is easy to administer and addresses concerns many people have about being vaccinated with needles. The researchers also believe this method should be comparable in price to other vaccine delivery techniques.

However, there are some drawbacks to consider. This technique would not work on infants and toddlers who do not yet have teeth. Additionally, the approach may not be suitable for people with gum disease or other oral infections, and more research is needed to fully understand its potential benefits and limitations.

The study was published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering and was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and funds from the Whitacre Endowed Chair in Science and Engineering at Texas Tech University. The researchers are optimistic about this work and may move toward clinical trials depending on their findings.

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was one of the deadliest in human history, claiming an estimated 20-100 million lives worldwide. Despite its devastating impact, the genetic makeup of the virus responsible for this pandemic had remained a mystery – until now.

Researchers from the University of Basel and Zurich have successfully reconstructed the genome of the influenza virus that ravaged Europe during the first wave of the pandemic in Switzerland. The study, led by paleogeneticist Verena Schünemann, used a 100-year-old specimen taken from an autopsy sample of an 18-year-old patient who died in July 1918.

The researchers identified three key adaptations that allowed the virus to spread and persist throughout the pandemic. These mutations made the virus more resistant to human immune system defenses, allowing it to bind more efficiently to human cells and increasing its infectiousness.

This breakthrough study has significant implications for tackling future pandemics. By understanding how viruses adapt and evolve over time, scientists can develop targeted countermeasures and improve public health responses. The researchers emphasize the importance of medical collections as archives for reconstructing ancient RNA virus genomes and highlight the need for further reconstructions to inform models for future pandemics.

The study’s authors stress that their interdisciplinary approach, combining historico-epidemiological and genetic transmission patterns, provides an evidence-based foundation for calculations and will be crucial in developing targeted strategies for addressing future pandemics.

The researchers at MIT and the Scripps Research Institute have made a groundbreaking discovery that could potentially lead to the development of vaccines that only need to be given once for infectious diseases like HIV or SARS-CoV-2. By combining two powerful adjuvants – materials that help stimulate the immune system – the team was able to generate a strong immune response against an HIV antigen in mice, using just one vaccine dose.

The dual-adjuvant vaccine accumulated in the lymph nodes and remained there for up to a month, allowing the immune system to build up a much greater number of antibodies against the HIV protein. This strategy could lead to the development of vaccines that only need to be given once, researchers say.

“This approach is compatible with many protein-based vaccines, so it offers the opportunity to engineer new formulations for these types of vaccines across a wide range of different diseases,” says J. Christopher Love, the Raymond A. and Helen E. St. Laurent Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.

The research team used an HIV protein called MD39 as their vaccine antigen, anchored dozens of these proteins to each alum particle, along with SMNP. After vaccinating mice with these particles, they found that the vaccine accumulated in the lymph nodes – structures where B cells encounter antigens and undergo rapid mutations that generate antibodies with high affinity for a particular antigen.

The researchers showed that SMNP and alum helped the HIV antigen to penetrate through the protective layer of cells surrounding the lymph nodes without being broken down into fragments. The adjuvants also helped the antigens to remain intact in the lymph nodes for up to 28 days.

Single-cell RNA sequencing of B cells from the vaccinated mice revealed that the vaccine containing both adjuvants generated a much more diverse repertoire of B cells and antibodies. Mice that received the dual-adjuvant vaccine produced two to three times more unique B cells than mice that received just one of the adjuvants.

This approach may mimic what occurs during a natural infection, when antigens can remain in the lymph nodes for weeks, giving the body time to build up an immune response. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health; the Koch Institute Support (core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Using these two adjuvants together could also contribute to the development of more potent vaccines against other infectious diseases, with just a single dose. “What’s potentially powerful about this approach is that you can achieve long-term exposures based on a combination of adjuvants that are already reasonably well-understood,” Love says.