This region of the NS1
viral protein binds the host protein DDX21, making it a potential target
for new antivirals against the influenza virusBetter antiviral drugs
could help the millions of people annually infected by flu, which kills
up to 500,000 people each year.
Credit: Image Courtesy of University of Texas at Austin
5 comments:
I thought this article was very informative and interesting. It amazes me what tiny microbes can do to human life. In the article, it said protein is produced by the human body to block the replication process, but protein is also produced by the virus and promotes the replication process. All this great information is much easier to understand after we learned about bacteria in science class. In class, we learned that people shouldn't take antibiotics if they have a virus and not a bacteria. In the article, it says the need for new antiviral drug is very high right now because so many people are getting sick. I feel if people wash their hands, and stay home when they are sick less people would get influenza. Since people aren't taking care of themselves and getting sick, we need more antibiotics. Unfortunately, antibiotics are hard to discover and make, so it is hard to keep up with the microbes reproducing.
I thought that the article was very interesting. I think that it is cool that scientists are finding a way to block the cold virus. While I was reading this article I was wondering when they were planing on completing this project. I want to learn more about this. I give it a 7 out of 10.
I thought that this article was really amazing. This could totally help improve defense from flu viruses. It’s great that they found the cause for viral replication. At first, I didn’t understand how NS1 binding with DDX21 helps replicating viruses, but as I moved on in the article, I read about PB1 and understood. It’s amazing that the virus is so tiny but is so complicated and uses so many tricks. However, I was wondering; do flu B and C types produce NS1 also? They probably don’t because it wasn’t mentioned, but I found this part of an article in the American Society of Microbiology that said:
Type B influenza viruses can cause substantial morbidity and mortality in the population, and vaccination remains by far the best means of protection against infections with these viruses. Here, we report the construction of mutant influenza B viruses for potential use as improved live-virus vaccine candidates. Employing reverse genetics, we altered the NS1 gene, which encodes a type I interferon (IFN) antagonist. The resulting NS1 mutant viruses induced IFN and, as a consequence, were found to be attenuated in vitro and in vivo. The absence of pathogenicity of the NS1 mutants in both BALB/c and C57BL/6 PKR−/− mice was confirmed. We also provide evidence that influenza B virus NS1 mutants induce a self-adjuvanted immune response and confer effective protection against challenge with both homologous and heterologous B virus strains in mice.
I don’t really understand what they’re saying, so could someone clear that up for me? This excerpt just talked about B flu virus and NS1, so I wasn’t sure if it offered me any clues to my question. Anyways, I think this is a really good discovery. If we can somehow develop a medicine or shot that can specifically target NS1, this finding could improve health around the world. This was a really good find. Also, it turns out that NS1 is like a super tool for the flu type A. Perhaps more deadly diseases, such as HIV have tools like this that can be disabled and solve the virus. I hope people recognize this potential and use it.
I though this article was really good, not only in terms of the reading, but also for the medical world. Now that they know the cause of viral replication, they can stop the virus completely. I agree with Christina about the fact that this article was a little confusing. It was clearly legitimate and, after looking at the sources, came directly from a journal. This could relate to the science fair experiment we are currently conducting, real scientists also take notes "in the field". Further in the article, it mentioned antibiotic resistance. If we overuse this solution, it could mean bacterial resistance, making the solution void. I was reading Christina's blog, and I think that it was not the right choice to past a huge quote onto her blog. In this article, there are complex words and phrases that are really hard to understand. Although what she said is informative for scientists, it doesn't really shed light on anything for us. Maybe we could have Christina explain some of the words. I do think her question was very good though. If the scientists can figure out a way to get rid of NS-1, no longer will the virus have a way to get around the body's natural defense mechanism.
This article was great. It's amazing how we're finding these new medical breakthroughs every single day. With modern technology, when we figure this out, we probably could use it to make vaccines for this particular type of flu. The only downside I had for this article was that it was much too confusing for me to understand it completely. Then again, it is hard to put a scientific article into words that 10-12 year olds can understand. :)
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