Current and Next Generation Vaccines Against Influenza

Influenza is an infectious disease. In order to overcome various infectious diseases, many vaccines have been developed so far. Influenza vaccines have played an important role in prevention and control of influenza. However, current influenza vaccines are not perfect. Current influenza vaccines are produced by anticipating influenza viruses that may occur in annual epidemics or pandemics because influenza viruses have characteristic of antigen mutations. Furthermore, current subcutaneous or intramuscular inoculation of vaccine cannot sufficiently induce IgA that plays an important role in defending the entry of pathogens from the mucosa. In order to overcome the drawbacks of these current influenza vaccines, next generation vaccines are under investigation. One candidate is universal influenza vaccine using the antigens that are conserved among influenza virus strains. Another one is mucosal vaccine that can induce IgA on the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract. Here current and next generation influenza vaccines are described