Posts Tagged ‘H1N1’
H1N1 Finding Could Lead to Universal Flu Vaccine
The scientists studied a group of nine adult patients who were variously affected by the H1N1 pandemic, some of whom experienced mild illness, others who were hospitalized for severe influenza (some for lengthy periods of time). Blood samples were taken from this group and from that the team isolated white blood cells that had produced antibodies that were effective against the flu virus.
The team then isolate the genes responsible for that antibody production and used them to create more antibodies in culture, resulting in 86 varieties of antibodies. They then turned the antibodies loose on a variety of flu strains. Of the 86 antibodies, five were able to bind with all the seasonal H1N1 strains identified over the last decade, the 1918 “Spanish flu” strain, and even the H5N1 bird flu strain.
These antibodies could lead to a single-injection, lifetime flu vaccine effective against multiple strains of influenza, both new and old. Current vaccinations are required to inoculate against at least one H1N1 strain, but they usually don’t insure against all of them – hence the 2009 strain’s ability to sicken even those who had received their standard seasonal flu shots.
So what’s to stop future influenza strains from circumventing these antibodies? Well, nothing really. But these antibodies were found to bind to the “stalk” region of the virus, a certain protein called haemagglutinin. This part of the virus tends to be rather static in the evolutionary sense, rarely changing as much as other regions over time. By arming the human body with the right kinds of antibodies researchers believe they could provide lifelong protection from most influenza strains, and perhaps even all of them.
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Study Turns Up Viral Key That Might Lead to Universal Flu Treatment
The influenza A virus contains eight individual single-stranded RNA segments, each of which has to make protein as well as new segments, in processes called transcription and replication. The multitasking strands must prioritize their work, so they must start with transcription and move on to replication. Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York figured out how to prevent RNA from starting the replication process. Their results were published June 1 online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using a novel process called deep sequencing, the team found a small viral RNA segment, or svRNA, that is integral to the change. Inhibiting the svRNA from doing its work stymies replication, and therefore slows the spread of the virus.
Even better, influenza A shares this trait with its viral cousins, influenza B and C, meaning the svRNA switch can be used to stop all kinds of flu -- even the H1N1 flu. As an added bonus, if the virus is prevented from replicating, it stays in transcription mode and produces more proteins. This helps the body's immune system build up its defenses, according to Benjamin tenOever, an assistant microbiology professor at Mount Sinai and a study author.
The process used to make this discovery is also groundbreaking, the researchers say. The deep sequencing allowed the scientists to obtain millions of small RNAs from cells in an unbiased fashion, according to a Mount Sinai release.
The next step is to find a way to introduce RNA "antagonists" to inhibit the svRNA's switch function, tenOever says. That's still a long way off, but the knowledge that RNA can be switched off means that a universal flu treatment is a possibility.
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