Researchers predict vaccine's immunity

ATLANTA, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've discovered a way to predict how successful vaccines would be in triggering immune responses.

In the first-ever study, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Vaccine Center at Emory University said they used immunology, genomics and bioinformatics to predict a vaccine's immunity without exposing individuals to infection -- a long-standing challenge in the development of vaccines.

The team, using the yellow fever vaccine as a model, wanted to determine why the vaccine -- one of the most successful vaccines ever -- was so effective so they could design equally effective new vaccines against global pandemics and emerging infections, the Atlanta university said in a news release.

"A single shot of the (yellow fever) vaccine induces immunity in many people for nearly 30 years," said Bali Pulendran, lead Yerkes researcher and professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. "Despite the great success of the yellow fever vaccine, little has been known about the immunological mechanisms that make it effective."

Pulendran said the team, using several lines of study, identified distinct gene signatures that were correlated to the antibody response induced by the vaccine.

To determine whether the gene could predict immune response, "we vaccinated a second group of individuals and were able to predict with up to 90 percent accuracy which of the vaccinated individuals would develop" immunity to yellow fever.