Wednesday 05 December, 2001
Flu’s secret ingredient
A team of virus experts recently made a chance discovery, which could change the way that scientists understand the structure of the flu virus.
Science In Action reports on the accidental find.
 |  | To find out when you can hear Science In Action in your region, click on our schedules pages here. | |
New research may explain why the influenza virus is so good at attacking humans.
Previously scientists had thought that the flu virus produced 10 protein molecules, however researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recently identified an additional protein.
Whilst studying the body’s immune system, the scientists accidentally stumbled upon a “hidden” protein. They believe that the state of this protein could determine how virulent a particular strain of the flu virus is.
Leader of the research, Dr Jonathan Yewdell explains:
| ‘This is a very interesting new protein that is encoded by the virus in a very tricky way so that it eluded investigators for nearly 20 years.’ |
|
‘When this protein is made it goes to the part of the cell that is involved in producing energy for the cell, called the mitochondria. It sits in the mitochondria and in certain cases it ends up killing the cell through a specific pathway.’
Toxic
When a virus enters a cell it has the ability to quickly replicate itself.
In the past scientists had considered the resulting peptides as waste products of the duplicating process.
However the researchers involved in this latest study recognised that there were large amounts of a particular protein occurring in flu-infected cells.
This led them to believe that the presence of this toxic protein could dictate how strong a particular strain of flu is.
Dr Yewdell explains:
| ‘When we looked at a type of immune cell isolated by human beings, the protein accelerated the ability to harm these cells.’ |
|
‘We believe this is a groundbreaking finding, although we’re not sure how deep the ground is.’
Surprise
The discovery of the protein was made when the scientists were examining “ junk peptides” and the effect that such small molecules have on the body’s immune system.
Such an accidental discovery is, in Dr Yewdell’s view, not uncommon in scientific research:
‘There is no underestimating the role of serendipity in biological research. We found this protein completely accidentally. We found something that we didn’t expect and when we did some digging out popped the protein.’
How this discovery will impact flu vaccines remains to be seen. However further research into why the protein is absent in some other animals is likely.
| |  | | | Flu facts |  |
| | The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 35 to 50 million Americans suffer from flu during each flu season, which usually lasts from November to March.
The flu virus can take many forms and each year new variations emerge.
The most contagious flu virus ever to be recorded was the 1918 “Spanish” flu.
This killed as many as 40 million people in the winter of 1918/1919, more than died during World War I. |
|  |
| |
