Israeli research may enable the development of effective drugs against the virus
Influenza is considered a relatively mild disease, but it causes the death of tens of thousands of patients every year around the world, and also causes heavy economic damage from the loss of millions of working days. If this is not enough, we are faced with a growing fear of epidemics of other flu strains, such as bird flu or swine flu, which will be transformed and spread rapidly from person to person. However, our ability to deal with the flu is quite limited. Vaccines against influenza have limited effectiveness, because the virus (virus) manages to frequently change the structure of its external proteins, and escape the antibodies that the body prepares against it. Since the virus exists most of the time inside cells it attacks, antiviral drugs are also almost non-existent.
Not just dodging
One of the important components of the innate immune system are white blood cells called "natural killers" - Natural Killer Cells, or NK's for short. These cells are able to identify cells in distress - for example, those in which a virus is multiplying - to attack and destroy them. Therefore, they have a very important role in dealing with viral infections, even before the acquired immune system, based on antibody activity and the recognition of the foreign agent, comes into action.
A new study at the School of Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals the mechanism that allows the influenza virus to escape the immune system's attack. Researchers in the Department of Immunology, led by Prof. Ofer Mendelboim and research student Yotam Bar-On discovered that one of the proteins of the virus, Neuraminidase, succeeds in disrupting the activity of the NK's, which are supposed to destroy cells infected with the virus. In a study published in the journal Cell Reports, the researchers report for the first time that the virus does not just change shape and passively escape from the cells of the immune system. Its proteins actively block certain sites on the surface of the NK's that are supposed to recognize another protein of the virus and the attacked cells, called Hemagglutinin. Without this detection, the effectiveness of the NK's in the activity against the flu is greatly reduced.
"The results of the study make it possible to develop a new type of medicine against the influenza virus," says Bar-On. "Drugs that will work to optimize and improve the activity of the immune system, unlike the existing drugs, which try to inhibit proteins of the virus. We believe that it will be very difficult for the virus to develop resistance against the new drugs."
Upgrades the immune system
To make sure that they had identified the mechanism of action of the virus, the researchers tested the effect of neuraminidase inhibitors on the functioning of the immune system both in cell cultures and in laboratory animals. They discovered that not only do these substances successfully damage the virus and disrupt its activity, they also improve the function of the NK cells. Bar-On, Mandelbaum and their colleagues are now working on developing a unique antibody that will help the cells of the immune system attach to the virus and eliminate it more efficiently.
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A research article in the journal Cell Reports
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One response
This is great because the flu is becoming more deadly year after year. All these developments are great, but it is also important to strengthen the body from the inside through sports and other activities such as a diet that in advance takes care of keeping the body at its best