- WASHINGTON (AFP) -- An experimental
influenza vaccine produced in insect cells appears safe and effective
in healthy adults, says a preliminary U.S. study published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.
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- The results offer the promise of a more rapid development
of vaccines against flu or avian influenza in case of a pandemic, say
the study's authors, scientists at the University of Rochester in New
York state, in JAMA's April 11 edition. Until now, all seasonal flu vaccines
have been grown in chicken eggs. That system requires specialized manufacturing
facilities and production "could be difficult to scale up rapidly
in response to an emerging need such as a pandemic," doctor John
Treanor and his colleagues wrote. Using recombinant DNA techniques, the
researchers produced an experimental vaccine from an insect and tested
it on 460 healthy adults in three hospital centers in the United States
during the flu seasons of 2004 and 2005.
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- Recombinant cellular vaccines have been successfully
used for two decades against hepatitis B, and more recently against human
papillomavirus, certain types of which cause cervical cancer.
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- Research is underway to develop a vaccine of this type
against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
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