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Flu Protein May Help Virus Disarm Immune System
Flu Protein May Help Virus Disarm Immune System Reuters
Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com)
(12/03/01); Norton, Amy
Researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have discovered a new protein in the influenza
A virus that specializes in killing a persons immune system cells.Named PB1-F2, the protein is part of the
strain of flu that caused three major epidemics during the 20th
century, and may help scientists understand why some flu strains kill so many
people while others do not.Reporting
in the December issue of Nature Medicine, Dr. Jonathan W. Yewdell and
associates hypothesize that the new insights may eventually lead to a potential
new treatment target for the flu.According to NIAID, every year as much as 20 percent of the American
population comes down with the flu and complications take the lives of nearly 20,000.
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