Research at the University of Tennessee may ultimately lead to a more effective flu vaccine.

Dr. Mark Sangster, a professor of microbiology at UT, has spent more than 15 years researching the influenza virus.  His most recent research has focused on immune system cells called memory B cells (MBCs).  When the body is exposed to a virus, MBCs remember any past contact the body has had with that virus.  If the body has encountered that virus before, MBCs are able to immediately begin producing the same antibodies that were used to fight the virus originally.

Most previous research in this area has focused on antibody levels and on the role of T cells, which can destroy virus infected cells.  Concentrating on MBCs has opened up a new range of possibilities when it comes to flu vaccines.

"A full-on infection produces a very high level of resistance to re-infection, so we can regard the MBC population produced by infection as the 'gold-standard.' Now that we have information about this gold-standard MBC population, we can use it as a basis for evaluating and improving vaccination strategies. Mark Sangster, UT professor of microbiologyNow that we have information about this gold standard MBC population, we can use it as a basis for evaluating and improving vaccination strategies," Sangster said.

Further research of MBCs showed they are highly concentrated in the lung. It was previously unknown that the lung played such a large role in immunological memory. In continuing research, Sangster will attempt to determine how important these cells in the lung are in protecting the body from infection.  

"If they prove to be important, we can then identify the form of vaccination that is most effective in producing a MBC population in the lung," Sangster said.

Sangster's findings were published in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and were co-authored by Hye Mee Joo, a graduate student in microbiology and Yuxia He, a postdoctoral researcher, both of whom have worked with Sangster to produce these results.

Sangster and his team ultimately hope to discover a single vaccine that will prevent the many various forms  the influenza virus can take.