Arthritis Drug Might Prove Effective In Fighting The Flu

At the present time, the treatment for the Influenza A virus is an antiviral drug known as Tamiflu, which prevents the virus from spreading within the body of a person, but only if it is taken with the first 48 hours of symptoms manifesting.

Researchers have recently found that a drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis has been effective in reducing the affects of the Influenza A virus. They found that mice that were infected with Influenza A had a positive response to the drug known as Abatacept which is commonly used for rheumatoid arthritis. The findings show that by tempering the response that influenza has on the immune system may alleviate some of the more severe symptoms and even reduce mortality from this virus. Mice were injected with white blood cells (memory T-cells) which had been primed to fend off the virus, due to previous exposure to Influenza A. They found that the mice which had been injected were less likely to become as sick and therefore recovered much faster with minimal damage to the lungs in comparison to the mice without the injection. "Moreover, treatment with Abatacept significantly improved survival for mice infected with a lethal dose of influenza virus," Dr. Farber says. "The survival rate for the treated mice was 80 percent, compared to 50 percent for the mice that weren't treated."

Researchers are currently testing Abatacept on healthy mice which have not been exposed to the virus to see how well they respond to the drug in a controlled environment. Instead of having “memory T-cells” these mice have “naïve t- cells”, which means they have not previously been exposed to influenza. The outcome of these tests will determine what happens in the long term.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090526114803.htm