In world first, University of Hong Kong scientists develop flu drug using genes from the virus itself
Chinese team file patent in United States after discovering method to ‘cheat’ the virus effective in almost 100 per cent of bird flu cases in mice
A team of Hong Kong scientists on Friday claimed a “vital breakthrough” in the fight against flu by developing a treatment using genes from the virus itself to boost resistance in infected mice.
The discovery could lead to more effective drugs for human patients as new strains of the flu rapidly emerge across the globe, raising the risk of a pandemic.
Researchers from the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine said their “virus against the virus” approach was a world first, and worked through what they termed a double-knockout effect.
It involved isolating the virus’ defective interfering genes and dual-functional proteins, and using them to develop an antiviral drug.
Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, chair of infectious diseases at the department, said the team tested whether a fusion of proteins TAT-P1 and three genes called DIG3 could help laboratory mice with swine flu strain H1N1 2009 or bird flu fight off the illness. H1N1 became a pandemic that year.
The scientists designed the DIG3 genes to inhibit the growth of the flu virus and induce broad anti-flu activity.