Successful early in blocking deadly flu virus

Researchers on May 29 said that laboratory studies have shown the initial success of a gene therapy that can prevent the spread of pandemic influenza , including deadly strains of influenza. in history from 1918 to 2009.

The method, which was developed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is done by introducing a flu antibody that broadly neutralizes the weasel and rat body through the nasal passages, to protect them against Flu can be fatal.

Scientists say the study is still in its early stages, but may provide a new tool to prevent influenza infection, a disease that causes half a million deaths worldwide each year.

The experimental study showed that a single dose could help protect mice within nine months of a series of influenza strains, including three strains of the H5N1 bird flu and two strains of H1N1 - which are widely known. under the name "swine flu" appeared in 2009.

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

Typically, influenza viruses evolve so quickly that a new vaccine that is researched and prepared every year can only provide limited protection against influenza-causing illnesses especially in the elderly and those people with weak immune systems.

However, the study was not tested with the strain of H7N9, the latest variant of the bird flu virus, which just broke out in China last March, causing 37 deaths and 132 infections so far. .

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

Lead researcher James Wilson, of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Pathology and Experimental Medicine, said the continued development of the method for pandemic flu was urgently made possible by the spread of the virus. H7N9 bird flu in China.

Scientists cloned a gene that codes for an antibody that works against many strains of the flu, then injects these gene cells through the nose and injects it into a widely neutralized antibody to prevent preventing the entry of influenza viruses.

This method uses nasopharynx transmission viruses, based on primates ' AAV9 virus , to provide neutralizing antibodies to a part of the avian influenza virus that is not expected to grow as fast as other part.

If this technique can be applied on the human body, it will bring some benefits such as speeding up the response to pandemic (which normally does not allow enough time to develop a treatment effective), not "stomping" on other treatments and low application costs.

Currently, clinical trials in humans to assess the use of the nasopharyngeal virus as a gene supply agent in cancer treatment have been conducted.