In a new study, a team of scientists including NSU Natural Sciences Department graduates, demonstrated a wider range of possible applications for an adapted version of the influenza B virus. This variant of the virus was used as an additional tool for predicting the effectiveness of a vaccine against circulating strains and evaluating the drug’s efficacy against influenza. The results of the study were published in the journal “Viruses”.
In the course of this study, scientists demonstrated a productive influenza infection with clinically pronounced signs of the disease in mice infected with an adapted strain of the influenza B virus. According to the researchers, an animal model is convenient for evaluating influenza drugs and the protective efficacy of influenza vaccines in vitro and in vivo.
Elena Prokopieva, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor at the V. Zelman Institute of Medicine and Psychology Fundamental Medicine Division, and Senior Researcher at the Molecular Pathology Laboratory NSU and Fitz FTM, described their research,
We continued to study the strain of the adapted variant of influenza B that we developed. This new article reflects the use of the strain in testing influenza drugs and vaccines. In this work, we tested domestic drugs, an anti-influenza drug (oseltamivir ethoxysuccinate, IPHET, Biysk) and an influenza vaccine (Ultrix®, FSUE SPbNIIVS FMBA St. Petersburg), and compared them to foreign analogues in experiments in vitro and in vivo.
The results of the study showed the effectiveness of drugs and vaccines developed by Russian scientists and the convenience of using an experimental model created using the strain B / Novosibirsk / 40/2017-MA developed by Siberian scientists. The creation and testing of this strain is completed. Further studies will expand on the use of the strain in virology, pharmacology, and medicine.
