First success in blocking deadly flu virus

Researchers said on May 29 that studies in laboratory animals have shown initial success of a gene therapy that could stop the spread of pandemic flu, including deadly strains from 1918 to 2009.

The method, developed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, works by delivering a broadly neutralizing flu antibody into ferrets and mice through the nose, protecting them against the potentially fatal flu.

People wear masks to prevent flu. (Source: AFP/TTXVN)

Scientists say the research is still in its early stages, but could provide a new tool to prevent influenza infections, a disease that kills half a million people globally each year.

The experimental study showed that a single dose could protect mice for nine months against a range of flu strains, including three strains of H5N1 bird flu and two strains of H1N1 - widely known as "swine flu" - that emerged in 2009.

Normally, flu viruses evolve so rapidly that a new vaccine developed each year offers only limited protection against the flu, which can be particularly deadly in the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.

However, the study was not tested on the H7N9 strain, the latest variant of the bird flu virus, which broke out in China last March, killing 37 people and infecting 132 so far.

According to a separate study published on May 28 by The Lancet, some patients infected with H7N9 flu have been found to be resistant to existing antiviral drugs, and this is very likely the result of treatment with Tamiflu.

Further development of the method for pandemic influenza was accelerated by the widespread infection of the H7N9 avian influenza virus in China, said study leader James Wilson, of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Pathology and Experimental Medicine.

Scientists cloned a gene that encodes an antibody that works against many strains of flu, then injected the cells with this gene through the nose and injected a broadly neutralizing antibody that blocks the flu virus from entering.

The approach uses nasopharyngeal influenza viruses, based on the primate AAV9 virus, to deliver neutralizing antibodies to a part of the avian influenza virus that is thought to not evolve as quickly as other parts.

If the technique could be applied to humans, it would offer several benefits, including speeding up responses to pandemics (which often don't allow enough time to develop an effective treatment), not "stepping on the toes" of other treatments, and low application costs.

Currently, human clinical trials to evaluate the use of nasopharyngeal virus as a gene delivery agent in cancer treatment have been conducted./.

According to (TTXVN) - VT