SCIENTISTS AT ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) have developed a panel of novel monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to faciliatate rapid testing of avian influenza viruses.
The monoclonal antibodies specifically target the hemagglutinin molecule of three avian influenza A subtypes. Although such strains are typically responsible for lethal outbreaks amongst poultry, they could potentially acquire the ability to be transmitted from one human to another.
"Given the potential for H5, H7 and H9 avian influenza to jump species and cause a public health crisis, we focused our efforts on developing reagents to detect avian influenza strains which have the potential to cause pandemic disease in humans," explained Dr Cohava Gelber, ATCC chief science and technology officer.
 ATCC's nascent antibody-based diagnostic test is designed to provide information about the virus subtype, a capability currently lacking in other rapid influenza diagnostics. Using a nasal swab, healthcare practitioners will be able to quickly distinguish between a strain of seasonal influenza and an emerging strain of bird flu, to which humans have no pre-existing immunity.
"Our research represents a major step toward developing a surveillance tool that the public health community can use to protect the population from avian flu and from a possible flu pandemic," said Dr John Simms, ATCC antibody project leader.
Influenza pandemics have occurred at 10- to 40-year intervals since the 1600s. Three such outbreaks were recorded in the 20th century, including the deadly Spanish Flu (1918–1919), which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. Most influenza researchers hypothesise that highly pathogenic strains of H5N1 avian flu are capable of mutating, which could allow the virus to be passed easily among humans. Indeed, the fatal strain has already infected 387 people and killed 245 since 2003.
As The News previously reported, a number of prominent research institutions have been working to refine techniques for treating and detecting avian influenza. For example, German scientists at the Institute of Diagnostic Virology recently announced an improved method for processing flu samples with the Genome Sequencer FLX instrument.
"One of the primary risks of an avian influenza pandemic is if the viral sequence were to mutate in ways which cause an increase in pathogenicity, or in other words an increase in the virus' ability to infect humans. Therefore, in order to understand the full biological impact of the virus and to prevent the spread of disease in the case of an outbreak, whole genome sequence information is necessary," a 454 Life Sciences spokesperson told The News. "454 sequencing delivers the speed, depth of genome coverage, and accuracy necessary for potential use in the case of a viral pandemic and to save human lives. The system's long sequencing reads (400-600 bp now, 1,000 bp soon) and quick instrument run time (10 hours) make it unique in comparison to other high-throughput sequencing systems which offer dramatically shorter reads and can take more than a week and up to 12 days to run."
According to the spokesperson, researchers managed to sequence complete, high-quality avian influenza genomes within three days after sample receipt.
"[Scientists] believe that this method could be applied to other avian influenza subtypes. Other research has demonstrated the ability of the system to detect low-frequency drug-resistant mutations in HIV and to accurately characterize HIV tropism. There are many potential medical sequencing applications for the 454 sequencing system."
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