The yearly flu vaccine is our best bet at preventing the flu, but it doesn't work for everyone. A new collaborative study has pinpointed a signature of nine genes that can predict whether people 35 or younger will respond to the flu vaccine or not.

For the first time, researchers have uncovered a set of genes that predicts whether the flu vaccine will work in adults 35 years old or younger.

The prediction, undertaken by a nationwide team of researchers known as the Human Immunology Project Consortium, came to light through a Big Data-scale analysis of more than 32,000 genes from more than 500 people who had received the flu vaccine in different parts of the U.S. during several different flu seasons. The study, published August 25 in the journal Science Immunology, looked at adults 35 years old and under, as well as those 60 and older, who had received the vaccine.

Read the source article at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

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Rachel Tompa is a staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.