A vaccine for babies against asthma
In 1966 an attempt at formulating a vaccine for the RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) failed. Half of all infants under 12 months of age, contract RSV and hospitalizations have now more than doubled. After a breakthrough study showed that this virus is possibly also responsible for asthma, researchers are now again trying to find a vaccine to protect infants against RSV.
Recent results have shown that the problem with the 1966 virus was that the vaccine failed to trigger a signal for the immune system to recognize the virus, therefore failing to mount a defense against it. When researchers vaccinated mice with a modified version of the old vaccine, formulated to help the immune system recognize the virus. The mice had milder symptoms and less inflammation in the lungs after being infected with RSV.
A vaccine against RSV could mean a vaccine against asthma.
