influenza

New H7 bird flu strain hikes risk of pandemic

John Carroll — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:16:40 -0400

A strain of bird flu has adapted to create a new version which increases the chances of a human pandemic, according to scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The adaptation was found in a strain of H7N2, which can now spread more easily among mammals. The change allowed the virus to thrive in the sugars of the human throat, a key flash point for researchers studying mutations that could lead to an epidemic.

Most of the research in the field has centered on the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain, which has yet to mutate into a virus that can be easily transmitted among humans. But H7 strains also have the potential to spark an epidemic.

"The finding underscores the necessity for continued surveillance and study of these viruses as they continue to resemble viruses with pandemic potential," said Dr Terrence Tumpey, a microbiologist with the CDC.

- read the article from The Times
- check out the report from The Telegraph

Computer model points to flu pandemic strategy

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute used a new computer modeling program supported by the NIH to simulate how a lethal pandemic flu outbreak could hit a modern American city that looks a lot like Chicago. And in each of the simulations run for the city of 8.6 million people, a rational use of preemptive household antivirals combined with a consistent program aimed at reducing human contact helped contain the spread of disease. The key, the researchers said, lay in timely initiation of a pandemic plan that included shuttering schools. Their work--which comes at a time influenza is rife around the world and pandemic fears tend to spike-- is outlined in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"VBI's computer simulation models are built on our detailed estimates for social contacts in an urban environment," said VBI Professor and NDSSL Deputy Director Stephen Eubank, who leads the VBI team in the working group. "They provide a realistic picture of how social mixing patterns change under non-pharmaceutical interventions such as closing schools or workplaces. For example, when schools close, young students require a caregiver's attention. That can disrupt social mixing patterns at work if a working parent stays home or make closing schools pointless if the children are placed in large day-care settings. We can use our model to suggest the best mix of intervention strategies in a variety of scenarios, taking factors like these into account."

- read the press release

Breakthrough on influenza vaccine

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Japanese researchers have developed a new approach to make flu vaccines that are able to combat multiple strains of influenza, including strains of the bird flu virus, according to Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The advance centers on their ability to develop a peptide based on the influenza virus with an antigen on the surface which triggers an immune response. The new approach is distinct from current vaccines, which create antibodies that target influenza. As the surface of the virus mutates it can escape detection by the current generation of vaccines. This new approach targets the inside of a virus rather than its surface. And the researchers, led by Tetsuya Uchida, tested the new approach on mice infected with multiple strains of influenza.

Tetsuya noted that a new vaccine frequently takes about five years to develop. But he added that with the current alarm over a possible outbreak of bird flu among humans, a more rapid development program could be put into place. More than 200 people have died from bird flu to date.

- read the report from News-Medical
- and here's the story from AFP

ALSO: India is fighting a new bird flu outbreak in birds in West Bengal. Report

Related Articles:
Breakthrough reported in flu vaccine research. Report
Breakthrough in understanding mechanism of bird flu. Report
Experimental vaccines show efficacy against H5N1 viruses. Report

Flu research points to new delivery technique

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Researchers at Texas A&M University are participating in developing a treatment for influenza that forms a jelly when sprayed into the nose. Even though trial treatments are being used to treat bird flu in humans, the vaccine has the potential for numerous other uses, such as for the common flu, says Dr. Ian Tizard, professor of pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. The project is funded in part by a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health awarded to Irving, TX-based DelSite Biotechnologies in conjunction with the Texas A&M teams.

"We take Aloe vera leaves and put them through a series of complex extraction steps to produce a chemically pure powder, and then we combine the flu vaccine with it," Tizard explains. "When this powder vaccine is puffed into the nose, it forms a jelly-like substance that clings to the inside of the nose and is absorbed into the body much more effectively. It stays longer and it has more time to do its work."

- see the release for more information

Scientists plot first moves for Project Checkmate

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

A collaboration between the Scripps Research Institute and IBM to find new antidotes to flu before new mutations surface is making some initial progress. Dubbed Project Checkmate, scientists are using phage displays to identify antibodies that can be used to fight influenza. The project hopes to employ supercomputers to anticipate the way that the flu mutates and moves. Researchers could develop new drugs for new versions of the flu that had yet to surface in the public. Scientists are waiting to hear back on their grant application to the NIH.

- read the article from the Palm Beach Post

Related Articles:
IBM gains $1.4B IT pact with AstraZeneca. Report
IBM to put worker genetic data off limits. Report
Indonesia opens up access to bird flu gene codes. Report
IBM introduces grid medical storage upgrade. Report

ALSO NOTED: Neanderthal sequencing highlights advances; Encapsulating stem cells prevents tumors; Snail toxin prevents pain;

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:01:38 -0500

More Research

Researchers have sequenced a portion of the genome of Neanderthals, which shows how a slight variation in DNA separates modern man from our closest extinct relative. It also shows that fossil DNA can be sequenced. Article

A group of researchers in Sydney, Australia say that enclosing embryonic stem cells in tiny capsules made from seaweed prevents tumors from being formed during therapy. The process exposes the stem cells to nutrients needed for growth but wards off immune cells, helping to prevent rejection. Report

Using a toxin found in cone snails, researchers at the University of Utah have prevented nerve pain in rats and believe that the approach may eventually work against severe nerve pain in humans. Report

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have found a new way to produce hollow platinum nanostructures by using liposomes as blueprints. Report

A study of healthy women at the NeuroInformatics Center at the University of Oregon demonstrates how sex hormones explain the difference in the way men and women respond to stress. Release

A story in Chemical & Engineering News reviews the rapid progress that gene silencing has made over the last eight years and its prospects for rapid translation into new therapies. Release

The University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization have found that the protein NS1 activates a critical pathway that allows the influenza virus to replicate. That knowledge should allow researchers to understand how to make benign viruses that can be used in vaccines. Release

New work into micro RNA at UT Southwestern Medical Center illustrate their role in enlarging the heart, which raises a serious risk of heart failure. Release

A study published in the October Journal of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis shows Pycnogenol--an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree--reduced edema, a typical side effect of antihypertensive medications, by 36 percent in patients taking these medications. Release

The actions of a mutated protein in cells linked to thyroid cancer have been uncovered by researchers at Queen's University. The discovery paves the way for the future development of drugs to more effectively target, treat and possibly even prevent both inherited and non-inherited thyroid cancers. Release

Researchers have found a highly unusual distribution of two proteins in the lungs and airways of people with cystic fibrosis, a discovery that could be a step in determining how the disease progresses. The proteins, first uncovered as a result of the human genome project, are thought to play a role in the body's immune system. Release

A team of researchers, led by scientists at Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth College, have identified and tested a gene that dramatically alters both muscle metabolism and performance. The researchers say that this finding could someday lead to treatment for muscle diseases, including helping the elderly who suffer from muscle deterioration and improving muscle performance in endurance athletes. Release

A group of British researchers has developed a vaccine that stimulates the immune system of colorectal cancer victims so it can fight off cancerous cells. Administering the vaccine before and after surgery, the researchers at the University of Nottingham said that 70 percent of the 67 patients involved in the trial developed new immune cells. Report

Tiny particles one-billionth of a meter in size can be loaded with high concentrations of drugs designed to kill brain cancer. What's more, these nanoparticles can be used to image and track tumors as well as destroy them, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Release

Scientists have found a new task managed by the antibody that's the workhorse of the human immune system: Inside cells, Immunoglobulin G (IgG) helps bring together the phagosomes that corral invading pathogens and the potent lysosomes that eventually kill off the germs. Release

New research on the commonly prescribed diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos), shows that it apparently prevents hardening of the arteries that can lead to heart attack and stroke. Report

Ghrelin, a hormone produced in the stomach, induces food intake and operates through a brain region that controls cravings for food and other energy sources, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in the October 19 online issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Release

Researchers at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute have identified a novel biomarker for brain tumors and have uncovered a potential role the marker may play when the tumor spreads or comes back after treatment. Release

Deals & Dollars

The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research is donating $120 million to six cancer research centers, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Chicago Medical Center. Report

Gene Network Sciences has won a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Release

Tools & Technology

Polymers--large molecules comprised of chains of repeating structures--are used in everything from the coatings on ship walls and pipes to reduce flow drag to gene therapy. But long polymer chains are subject to breakage, called scission, and a new study by the University of Michigan shows that as it turns out, much of what scientists previously thought about why polymers break when subjected to strong flows, such as waves crashing against a ship's bow, was wrong. Release

NIAID finds antibodies that neutralize H5N1

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Federal scientists at the NIAID have developed a vaccine that protects mice against the killer 1918 influenza virus. But they have also created a technique for identifying antibodies that neutralize the bird flu virus, a tool that could help contain future pandemic flu strains. These findings are important, the researchers say, to understanding and preventing the recurrence of the H1N1 influenza virus that caused the 1918 pandemic and to protecting against virulent flu strains in the future, including the H5N1 avian flu virus.

"Who would have imagined five years ago that we'd be able to create a vaccine that protects against one of the deadliest forms of influenza the world has ever seen?" said Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Vaccine Research Center. "It's because the 1918 flu virus has been reconstructed that we are now able the further understand it. Hopefully, this virus will help us to develop effective vaccine strategies for current pandemic influenza virus threats."

- see the release from PressZoom

ALSO: Up to now it was not known how cells distinguish their own RNA from that of 'enemy' viruses. An international team of researchers have shown that the instructions from the cell's nucleus carry a kind of 'signature', which is missing in the virus commands. Release

Related Article:
At the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Bio conference, Dr. Tony Fauci, director of NIAID, delivered a fascinating speech on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as the bird flu. Article

Bird flu scientist says annual mutations likely

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:01:39 -0400

A leading WHO scientist concludes that the H5N1 strain of bird flu shows all the earmarks of being able to repeatedly mutate as it develops resistance against any antiviral drugs that are deployed against it. Mike Perdue says the only two anti-viral drugs currently believed to be at least somewhat effective against the virulent bird flu--Tamiflu and Amantadine drugs--already appear to be losing their effectiveness. And Perdue says that vaccines that work one year may well be useless the next.

- read the report on WHO's conclusions from The Philadelphia Inquirer

PLUS: University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers say they have discovered a peptide that prevents the influenza virus from attaching to cells, a move that would essentially prevent the replication of the virus as it infects its host. The peptide was tested on animals and cells in culture, stopping influenza of all stripes, including bird flu. Report

ALSO: The FDA has produced new guidelines to speed the development of cell-based vaccines. The agency wants to eventually end the use of eggs in vaccine production, saying that a cell-based approach is safer and far faster. Report

AND: Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a "competing virus" that slows the spread of influenza, making it easier to stop. They're working on developing a nasal spray to administer the therapy, which may also work against pandemic strains. Report