Influenza is one of the most common viral diseases and a serious public health problem.
Development of a cure for influenza —not an easy task. The virus mutates, and the medicine must be harmless to the human body. “The chances of surviving the flu are high, so any medicine should have few or no side effects. Otherwise, it should not be taken,” notes Francesco Stellacci, EPFL professor who heads SuNMIL.
The influenza virus attaches to the cell membrane,to infect the human body. It then separates and continues to infect other cells. Existing antiviral drugs work by attacking the virus inside the host cell and temporarily blocking virus replication. EPFL scientists have taken a new approach to their antiviral compound to make it effective against influenza and non-toxic. They developed a modified sugar molecule that mimics the cell membrane, causing the flu virus to attach to it. “Once the virus attaches, our molecule exerts local pressure and destroys it. And this mechanism is irreversible, ”explains Stellacci.
Since this process takes place outside the cellsorganism, this synthetic compound demonstrates constant efficacy for the first 24 hours after infection, according to tests carried out on mice. In humans, the effectiveness of a compound can last over 36 hours. The compound developed by EPFL can be used to create broad spectrum antiviral drugs, that is, drugs that act against many different types of influenza viruses. This study focuses primarily on seasonal flu and does not address the treatment of COVID-19.
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