Word: influenza
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...influenza virus—equipped with only eight genes of its own—hijacks the genetic material of its host cell, infecting and utilizing the human genes to execute the virus’ own operations, according to Stephen J. Elledge, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and head of the lab in which the study took place. With this understanding, Elledge and his team systematically deactivated every gene in the human genome—testing some 20,000 different genes—using new RNA interference technology, hoping to determine the genes in the host cells that...
...researchers, who had already used this same process in studies of HIV and the hepatitis C virus, hoped to find that some of the treated cells could not be infected with the influenza virus, which would suggest that the virus needed the deactivated gene to function. Instead, the researchers were surprised to find that the rate of infection increased dramatically when certain genes were deactivated...
Brass and Elledge said that they next seek to determine how IFITM works in preventing the flu. For now, the discovery of these native anti-viral proteins may bode well for the battle against influenza...
...drug that increases the presence of IFITM proteins in humans without provoking negative side effects may be an effective means of preventing influenza. Another area of potential research is the possibility of inserting the IFITM genes into the genomes of animals like swine and poultry—the strains of influenza most dangerous to humans typically emerge from these animals...
...addition, the discovery may help expedite the production of flu vaccines, according to Elledge. By deactivating the IFITM genes in laboratory cells, scientists could grow influenza vaccines in these cells much more quickly. The larger crop of viruses can then be used to produce more vaccines...