Our story - Research news - Catching the ‘flu
Catching the ‘flu
December 1st, 2009
SVI’s Professor Michael Parker was recently awarded a special fast-tracked NHMRC grant for his research into the swine flu virus. The first Victorian case of swine flu, known officially as H1N1 influenza, was diagnosed on the 12th of May this year in a nine year-old Melbourne boy who had returned from a vacation with his parents in the U.S. Since then, 185 deaths have been linked to the virus in Australia and 37,039 cases of swine flu have been diagnosed. As the pandemic gathered momentum, the Australian government committed $7 million to H1N1 research. Here Michael explains the relevance of his research.
What is the aim of your project?
Our aim is to figure out the shape of an important part of the swine flu virus, and look at how this part of the virus binds to the drugs that are currently being used to treat it. We then want to be able to look at how the swine flu virus mutates over time to allow us to try and predict how effective our current drugs and vaccines will be against the virus in the future.
Why does ‘flu mutate?
Because this gives it the best chance of survival – by changing the way it looks it can avoid detection by the immune system. This is why we have to re-vaccinate people each year against the seasonal flu – the virus changes as it travels through the population, and new strains arrive, meaning that new vaccines need to be developed.
What is the difference between an antiviral drug and a vaccine?
Vaccines are given to prevent infections. They are made from parts of the virus that will not cause disease on their own. When vaccinated, the body’s immune system makes antibodies, which fight off infection if exposure to that virus occurs. Antivirals, on the other hand, are used to treat people who have already been infected and to prevent infection after exposure to the virus. The current antiviral drugs are not specific for a strain of virus, as a vaccine is, but work against all types of flu. When a new virus emerges, it takes about six months for a vaccine to be developed, so antiviral drugs are important as our first line of defence against a new influenza virus.
How do the current antiviral drugs work?
The frontline antiviral drugs that are being used around the world to treat the flu were developed as a result of Australian research. In 1983, researchers at CSIRO figured out the shape of an important part of the flu virus, called neuraminidase. Based on this knowledge, in partnership with The Victorian College of Pharmacy and Biota, drugs were developed to bind to the region and stop it from working. Neuraminidase helps the virus to spread from cell to cell, and by binding to this part of the virus, these drugs stop the virus from infecting other cells. The important role of the neuraminidase also means that the virus is less able to mutate this region to avoid the drugs, so that resistance arises more slowly than is seen in vaccines. However, while neuraminidase is similar between different fl u strains, it is not identical, and the exact shape of the swine flu’s neuraminidase is not known. This is what we aim to discover.
If the antiviral drugs already work against the swine flu, why do you need to do this research?
We know that the swine flu virus is already mutating, and with wide use, the virus could develop resistance to one or more of our current drugs as has already been seen with some other strains of flu in circulation. The more we know about how the virus looks and how it is mutating, the more likely it is that we will be able to develop new treatments in the future.