• Number 305  |
• February 15, 2010

Discovery shows how antiviral drugs bind to and block flu virus

Antiviral drugs block influenza A viruses from reproducing and spreading by attaching to a site within a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells, according to a research project led by Iowa State University and DOE Ames Laboratory researcher Mei Hong and published in the Feb. 4 issue of the journal Nature.

The virus begins an infection by attaching itself to a healthy cell. The healthy cell surrounds the flu virus and takes it inside the cell through a process called endocytosis. Once inside the cell, the virus uses a protein called M2 to open a channel to the healthy cell. Protons from the healthy cell flow through the channel into the virus and raise its acidity. That triggers the release of the virus' genetic material into the healthy cell. The virus hijacks the healthy cell's resources and uses them to reproduce and spread. When amantadine binds to and blocks the M2 proton channel, the process doesn't work and the virus can't infect the cell and spread. Hong said the findings clarify previous, conflicting studies and should pave the way to development of new antiviral drugs against influenza viruses, including pandemic H1N1.

[Kerry Gibson, 515.294.1405
kgibson@ameslab.gov]