A new drug could foil any outbreak
Posted 07.20.2009 at 9:35 am
7 Comments
Candy Coated A new treatment targets “lollipop” molecules on the flu’s surface.
Russell Kightley/Photo Researchers
Before swine flu swept through the U.S., the virus had bounced around South America undetected for years. The H1N1 strain caught scientists by surprise, and without a vaccine. But a few weeks before the first North American case popped up, researchers successfully tested a therapy that could knock out almost any flu, and possibly any virus.
Conventional vaccines packed with inert versions of a flu strain give your immune system the chance to develop antibodies. These identify that strain’s particular version of hemagglutinin, a lollipop-shaped protein on its surface, so your body knows what to kill if infected. Every strain’s hemagglutinin has a slightly different head, so Robert Liddington, a biologist at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California, went after its stalk. “The lollipop head changes quite easily from generation to generation, but the stalk remains stable,” he says. “It’s the flu’s Achilles’ heel.” His team found a rare antibody that targets it, injected it into mice, and exposed them to 10 times the lethal dose of several seasonal flu strains, the H5N1 bird flu and the pandemic-causing 1918 Spanish flu. The drug staved off serious infection in each case, even if administered 72 hours after the initial exposure.
Liddington says the trick might work on viruses with similar proteins, such as HIV, but he is fast-tracking the flu drug, wrapping up tests in ferrets before handing it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to oversee human trials. “Considering the recent outbreaks, expedience is the rule.”
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And it only caused craving for brains in 30% of the test animals.
Probably the reason the stalk never mutates is because antibodies never targeted it, with that treatment a strain will show up that does. Natural selection and all that.
Anyone know why the stalk remains stable? What amino acid sequence makes it up? Why would most antibodies never target that particular protein sequence?
When is the amino acid toolkit going to be released on SolidWorks? I want COSMOS works to give me a stress analysis of some preteen chains.
from Poultney, VT
The only way you can kill the Flu Virus,is UP THE NOSE! Why!
Because the cells that line the respiratory track. THESE CELLS ARE SUPERFICIALLY SITUATED, NOT INTIMATELY BATHED IN THE FLUIDS OF THE BLOOD STREAM. They are apparently protected to a great extent by there own physiologic mechanisms.
What this means is you can do research, to destroy Respiratory viruses, till your "Blue in the Face", if you only look at taking pills or shots, to kill the virus, it won't work, you have to kill Respiratory viruses, ON CONTACT! That is nasal, UP THE NOSE! This material stated above, was not from any medical book, no it is from the 1966 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 12 page 243, with full documentation of the material. That is why Nasal B12, Destroys the Flu Virus. Maybe the medical profession should read the Britannica? For more information on Cure for the Flu www.popsci.com/node/22953
This story broke in February. How is this news five months later?
im more concernd anbout the fact that now that we have a treatment taht targets this set of recepters that they will now start to evolve into a slightly different set that wont reciev the antibodies
from Poultney, VT
New Flu Vaccines according to CBS, will now be in a strong spray form UP THE NOSE! Which is really the only to attack and kill the Virus. www.popsci.com/node/22953