Researchers led by UW-Madison Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka released a study on Thursday containing new methods to counteract the influenza virus.
The study, done in collaboration with researchers in Japan, proposed stopping the virus by shutting down the cellular machinery the virus depends on to spread. Current anti-flu drugs target the virus itself.
The influenza virus spreads through healthy cells, stealing their cellular composition and replicating, according to the news release. The virus then breaks out of the cell and spreads to others. Current attempts to halt this process often fail because the virus mutates, allowing it to avoid elimination.
"Whenever patients are treated with a drug, viruses are under selective pressure," Kawaoka, a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, said. "In 2007, a [drug] resistant influenza virus emerged and within one-and-a-half years, it spread worldwide."
Targeting the cells that viruses depend on, however, limits their ability to mutate. The scientists identified 1,300 host-cell proteins that the virus depends on to spread. The scientists then tested each protein individually to find if eliminating them from human cells limited the effectiveness of the virus.
The researchers concluded this process with 91 proteins that could be reduced within cells to limit the virus without damaging or killing the cells.
The study will lead to the development of more effective drugs to counter the virus, according to Kawaoka.
"The information described in this paper will be of great value to those who are interested in developing antiviral compounds that are targeted, but reduce virus [concentrations]," Kawaoka said.
The researchers said they plan to continue studying the proteins to determine the potential of future antiviral drugs.
