Fighting norovirus with a pill: new vaccine shows strong immune response

Interviewer: A recent paper in Science Translation and Medicine described a groundbreaking oral vaccine against norovirus that triggers strong and lasting immune responses in older adults, which is a group that's often harder to protect with vaccines. Joining us today is Dr. Becca Flitter, director of immunology at Vaxart, who led this research with her team. Becca, thank you so much for joining us today. Dr. Flitter: Thank you for having me. Interviewer: Can you start by introducing us to the key advantages of developing mucosal vaccines compared to injected vaccines? More specifically, what makes the GI tract the better target than the nose or the lungs? Dr. Flitter: Sure. That's a great question. Most infectious diseases start at mucosal surfaces like the gut, the nose, or the lungs. While traditional vaccines are very effective at preventing serious disease, these injected approaches mainly stimulate systemic immunity or IgG antibodies in the blood, and so that doesn't always help stop viruses or bacteria at the point of entry. These mucosal vaccines that we've been developing are really important because they can provide secretory IgA or antibodies that are actually made at mucosal surfaces, and that actually helps stop the pathogen from entering at the place of infection. This helps provide stronger protection against not only the infection but also transmission at mucosal surfaces. The gut specifically offers some really unique advantages over the nose or the lungs in terms of developing a mucosal vaccine not only