Slime on frog skin is capable of treating flu

Urumin in the frog skin slime brings new hope for the treatment of influenza.

A skin-derived molecule of colorful frogs from India can kill some strains of influenza and bring expectations to a promising new treatment.

This molecule is named after an Indian sword

In the study published in the journal Immunity, the researchers said they had collected the mucus secreted on the skin of the Indian frog named Hydrophylax bahuvistara . This frog was released naturally after that.

Next, they separate isolated molecules from the resulting slime and test on human blood cells in turn. Eventually, they discovered a substance called urumin , capable of killing flu viruses while not hurting the cells in the body.

South Indian frog: Hydrophylax bahuvistara.

Scientists conducted mouse vaccination experiments with urumin and found that it protected them from the risk of death of the H1 flu virus, the same strain that caused the 2009 pandemic.

"We have not yet completed the vaccine from the slime on frog skin. But this is the first step towards a new way to combat influenza virus without using traditional antibiotics" - a researcher in the group share.

Specifically, slime extracted from frog skin contains peptides - are extremely small sized amino acid chains. During the study, the scientists screened 32 types of frog peptides that tested antagonism against different influenza strains, and found that four of them could fight the virus.

But when researchers put peptides into a disk with human blood cells, three of them killed blood cells by destroying their cell membranes. And so they cannot be put into practical applications.

Urumin in the frog skin slime brings new hope for the treatment of influenza.

The fourth peptide, Urumin, named after an Indian sword, originated from Kerala, is also the place where frogs are found to be the last hope. And as expected, urumin has proven safe and killed flu virus.

Observing electron microscopy, the researchers found that urumin completely destroyed the flu virus by combining it with a protein found in many flu strains. This makes it more flexible with a variety of flu types and does not harm humans; however, it does not work with a modern line called H3N2.

Either way, urumin is extremely promising when current drugs are no longer effective. We all wait for this flu vaccine to be completed and soon put into use.