Scientists discover natural flu-fighting proteins

[usregimechange]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have discovered antiviral proteins in cells that naturally fight off influenza infections, a finding that may lead to better ways to make vaccines and protect people against the flu.

They said a family of genes act as cell sentries that guard cells from an invading influenza virus, the team reported on Thursday in the journal Cell.

"This prevents the virus from even getting into the cell," said Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School and a Howard Hughes Investigator at Brigham & Women's Hospital.

"It is out there fighting the flu all of the time," Elledge said in a telephone interview.

Elledge and colleagues used a new research technique called RNA interference in which they systematically turned off individual genes and then exposed cells to the flu virus.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_93210.html

[Indenturedebtor]

1. This is why I never get the flu n/t

[Butch350]

3. What's your IQ?

[Indenturedebtor]

5. 138 stanford binet but I think it probably has more to do with "hybrid vigor"

though I know that a diverse gene pool is also strongly correlated with IQ :shrug: ... I'm also easily addicted to anything "interesting" and haven't achieved much in my life beyond experiences that I treasure :P

[demigoddess]

2. isn't it genetics??

I have never had the flu and my siblings never had the flu and my kids never had the flu, even when there was a bad flu running around the schools they went to. But then my husband has not had the flu since he gave up flu shots.

[Indenturedebtor]

4. Probably. There is an antibody that was recently discovered

Very quick search to a link in a local paper here but I read a few months back that a certain percentage (I think around 10%) of the population produces a ton of these antibodies when exposed to a very small amount of flu virus.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/27/1m27flunew235848-more-local-scientists-id-new-flu-/