IMPACT: The NIH/UCLA team used human and animal cell lines to demonstrate RC2's protection against the influenza virus. The team's earlier studies suggest that RC2 offers great promise as the lead compound for new antiviral drugs to fight off HIV and herpes, as well. Unlike antibodies, however, defensins are not pathogen specific. In addition to blocking viruses, RC2 also kills several bacteria that are highly resistant to conventional antibiotics.
AUTHORS: Dr. Robert Lehrer, Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is available for interviews. Leonid Chernomordik, Ph.D., section chief of Membrane Biology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, led the NIH team.
FUNDING: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and NIH's Intramural Research Program supported the research. The W.M. Keck Foundation established the UCLA Functional Proteomics Center, which also participated in the study.
JOURNAL: The Sept. 11 online edition of Nature Immunology publishes the research. A PDF of the manuscript is available upon request.
Journal
Nature Immunology