Influenza Viruses: Targetting Conserved Viral Ha-Stem, Matrix and Nucleo-Proteins to Disarm a Resilient and Recurring Pandemic

Abstract

Much to the current worldwide pandemic caused by the SARs-Cov-2 virus, common flu caused by Influenza virus remain a long-standing mayhem to global health. Influenza viruses are important human pathogens responsible for substantial seasonal and pandemic morbidity and mortality. Despite the efficiency of widely available antiviral neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor drugs, and multiple formulations of the influenza vaccines, including inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV); a recombinant inactivated vaccine (RIV); and a live, attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), Influenza virus infection still remains an ongoing health and economic burden causing epidemics with pandemic potential keeping scientist on their toes in researching to combat the complexity often associated with the pathogenesis of these viral infection and perhaps its associated genetics. Most recent strides and advances within the global research landscape has seen efforts channeled towards the discovery and production of universal vaccines in a bid to address the unique challenge associated with the multiple viral strain explosion often encountered with influenza viruses. An important strategy for accomplishing this is to provoke an immune response to the virus’s “Achille’s heel”, i.e., conserved viral proteins, through targeting the hemagglutinin (HA) glycoprotein or protein domains shared by seasonal and pre-pandemic strains.