Scientists find antibodies that target wide-range of flu viruses...

[SidDithers]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j2N9IZm0eUHqfzGE051lB3VDokKA

TORONTO — American scientists have found human antibodies that kill a broad range of influenza A viruses, a discovery that raises hopes of both better flu drugs and a more effective, longer lasting flu shot.

The discovery of monoclonal antibodies that target what some researchers believe may be flu's Achilles heel suggests medicine finally may be able to find a way to neutralize the virus's maddening ability to evade the immune system through constant mutation.

The wily virus's trick of continually altering its external appearance is why people don't develop life-long immunity after catching the flu and why flu shots have to be reformulated almost annually to keep pace.

"I certainly believe a pan therapy for influenza may be within our grasp," one of the authors, Dr. Robert Liddington, said of the findings, which were published Sunday in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.

A long-lasting, effective mult-strain flu vaccine would be a wonderful thing.

Sid

[SidDithers]

1. NY Times version of same story...

Antibodies Offer a New Path for Fighting Flu

In a discovery that could radically change how the world fights flu, researchers have engineered antibodies that protect against many strains of influenza, including even the 1918 Spanish flu and the H5N1 bird flu.

The discovery, experts said, could lead to the development of a flu vaccine that would not have to be changed yearly. And the antibodies already developed can be injected as a treatment, targeting the virus in ways that drugs like Tamiflu do not. Clinical trials to prove they are safe in humans could begin within three years, a researcher estimated.

“This is a really good study,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who was not part of the study. “It’s not yet at the point of practicality, but the concept is really quite interesting.”

The work is so promising that his institute will offer the researchers grants and access to its ferrets, which can catch human flu.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/health/23flu.html?hp

Sid

[beam me up scottie]

2. k&r

Another way to make money and poison our kids, wait for it.

[pleah]

3. Great, but, will it work on the common cold?

:P

K&R

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[Deep13]

5. very cool nt