A new study leads the way toward a potential vaccine that could provide protection against numerous strains of influenza, including ones that could cause future pandemics.

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) used a virus-like particle vaccine cocktail that expressed several different subtypes of a surface protein key to the flu virus.

Through a series of experiments, they found that 95 percent of mice vaccinated with the cocktail were protected against eight different flu strains expressing seven different subtypes -- including ones that were not in the vaccine at all.

That compares to only 5 percent of mice that were protected after receiving a mock vaccination.

The vaccine was also found to be durable and to work well in older mice -- an important aspect given that elderly people are especially likely to become seriously ill after being infected with the flu.

The study appears in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.