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Study finds flu-fighting proteins
Source: Agencies |
December 19, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
United States researchers have discovered antiviral proteins in cells that naturally fight off influenza infections, a finding that may lead to better ways to make vaccines and protect people against the flu.
They said a family of genes act as cell sentries that guard cells from an invading influenza virus, the team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell.
"This prevents the virus from even getting into the cell," said Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and a Howard Hughes Investigator at Brigham & Women's Hospital.
"It is out there fighting the flu all of the time," Elledge said.
Elledge and colleagues used a new research technique called RNA interference in which they systematically turned off individual genes and then exposed cells to the flu virus.
Using this method, they discovered a small family of flu-fighting proteins called interferon-indicible transmembrane proteins that boost the body's natural resistance to viral infection.
"If you get rid of it (the protein), the virus can replicate five to 10 times faster. What that means is your cells have a mechanism that can block 80 to 90 percent of the virus that gets in," Elledge said.
They also showed that if the cell overproduces the protein, they become more resistant to the flu. "If you crank it up, it really shuts down the flu," he said.
The team showed that a specific protein in the family - IFITM3 - protected against several viruses, including strains of influenza A now found in seasonal flu, the West Nile virus and dengue virus.
They said a family of genes act as cell sentries that guard cells from an invading influenza virus, the team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell.
"This prevents the virus from even getting into the cell," said Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and a Howard Hughes Investigator at Brigham & Women's Hospital.
"It is out there fighting the flu all of the time," Elledge said.
Elledge and colleagues used a new research technique called RNA interference in which they systematically turned off individual genes and then exposed cells to the flu virus.
Using this method, they discovered a small family of flu-fighting proteins called interferon-indicible transmembrane proteins that boost the body's natural resistance to viral infection.
"If you get rid of it (the protein), the virus can replicate five to 10 times faster. What that means is your cells have a mechanism that can block 80 to 90 percent of the virus that gets in," Elledge said.
They also showed that if the cell overproduces the protein, they become more resistant to the flu. "If you crank it up, it really shuts down the flu," he said.
The team showed that a specific protein in the family - IFITM3 - protected against several viruses, including strains of influenza A now found in seasonal flu, the West Nile virus and dengue virus.
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