title: Protection from lethal influenza virus challenge by oral type 1 interferon.
abstract: The persistence of highly pathogenic avian influenza within wild bird populations has forged interest in control measures to limit a possible human pandemic. We therefore investigated the efficacy of low dose oral administration of IFN-alpha as a potential therapy against influenza infection in a murine model. We have identified an optimal low oral dose of IFN-alpha that when delivered daily as prophylactic therapy protects C57BL/6J mice from a lethal challenge with mouse adapted human influenza virus A/PR/8/34 (H1N1). These results provide strong support for the application of low dose type 1 IFN pretreatment to human influenza control.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Microbiology and Immunology, M502 School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. beilharz@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Manfred W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Beilharz
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Cummins
authors.forename: Alayne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha