Properties and in vivo mechanism(s) of action of cloned influenza virus interfering RNA - a new type of antiviral agent

流感对人类健康构成持续威胁。人们早就知道，含有基因组被显著删除的病毒可以干扰完全感染性病毒的复制。我们已经产生了一个特定的干扰病毒使用分子克隆技术。对小鼠的研究表明，接触这种干扰病毒不会产生疾病，但可以保护小鼠免受一系列不同流感病毒的侵害。我们打算研究干扰病毒基因组的性质，并研究干扰病毒的工作机制。我们还将研究干扰病毒的一些基本特性，以确定最佳的生产方法和稳定性。干扰病毒是一种产生抗流感药物的新方法，如果成功，这将提供对广泛的不同毒株的保护，可能包括禽流感病毒。

Influenza represents a continuing threat to human health. It has long been known that viruses containing genomes which have been significantly deleted can interfere with the replication of fully infectious virus. We have generated a specific interfering virus using molecular cloning techniques. Studies in mice have shown that exposure to this interfering virus does not generate disease but confers protection against a range of different influenza viruses. We intend to characterise the nature of the interfering virus genome and investigate the mechanism by which the interfering virus works. We will also study some fundamental characteristics of the interfering virus to determine the optimal method of production and stability. The interfering virus is a new approach to generating antiinfluenza drugs and, if successful, this would offer protection against a wide range of different strains, potentially including avian influenza virus.