The global statistics pertaining to Flu is staggering. More than 5 million cases of infection are reported annually worldwide, of which as much as 10 percent result in death.
A new research report appearing in the scientific and medical journal Nature Communications earlier this week claims to have found that a 1.5 billion-year-old cell biological process found in plants, fungi and mammals enhances viral disease in mice and highly likely also in humans.
Scientists from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, investigated how viruses caused diseases and stumbled upon a protein- Nox2 oxidase, that is activated by viruses, including influenza, rhinovirus (the common cold), dengue and HIV.
They found that this protein was activated by the viruses is located in a cell compartment called endosomes, and surpressed the body’s key antiviral reaction as well as its ability to fight and clear the viral infection, which in turn resulted in a stronger or more virulent disease.
And once they learned about the mechanism, the researchers carefully modified a chemical that inhibits or restrains the activity of Nox2 oxidase. This drug that they formulated was found to be very effective at suppressing disease caused by influenza infection.
“We have identified a protein of the immune
system that contributes to the disease caused by flu viruses irrespective of their strain. We also developed a novel drug delivery system to target this protein, which drastically alleviated the burden of viral disease.” Said Selemidis, head of the Oxidant and Inflammation Biology Group within the Chronic Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases program at RMIT.“This work identifies a treatment strategy that has the potential to alleviate the symptoms caused by some of the most devastating viruses worldwide, including the flu. The unique partnership between Dr Selemidis’ laboratory at the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT and his collaborators continues. Dr Selemidis’ laboratory and his collaborators are pursuing further research to aid development of novel drugs for further trials and this is showing great potential,” Professor Calum Drummond, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation and Vice-President at RMIT, said the project held immense promise.