title: Comparison of ribavirin and oseltamivir in reducing mortality and lung injury in mice infected with mouse adapted A/California/04/2009 (H1N1).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the efficacy of ribavirin and oseltamivir in reducing mortality, lung injury and cytokine response profile in pandemic influenza H1N1 (2009) infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed survival, weight loss, lung viral load (by RT-PCR), lung injury (by protein content in bronchoalveolar lavage), and inflammation (cell counts, differentials and cytokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage) in BALB/c mice after infection with mouse-adapted pandemic influenza strain A/California/04/2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results indicate that ribavirin (80 mg kg(-1)) and oseltamivir (50 mg kg(-1)) are equally effective in improving survival (100% vs. 0% in water treated controls), while ribavirin proved to be more effective in significantly preventing weight loss. Both drugs diminished the injury of the alveolar-capillary barrier by decreasing the protein detected in the BAL to baseline levels, and they were also equally effective in reduction lung viral loads by 100-fold. Administration of either drug did not decrease the amount of inflammatory infiltrate in the lung, but ribavirin significantly reduced the percentage comprised of lymphocytes. This study shows that these antivirals differentially regulate inflammatory cytokines and chemokines with ribavirin significantly reducing most of the cytokines/chemokines measured. Ribavirin treatment leads to a Th1 cytokine response while oseltamivir leads to a Th2 cytokine response with significant increase in the levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reveals new mechanistic insights in the way that ribavirin and oseltamivir exert their antiviral activity and supports the theory that ribavirin could potentially serve as an efficacious therapeutic alternative for oseltamivir resistant pandemic H1N1 strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
authors.forename: Sotirios G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Zarogiannis
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Noah
authors.forename: Asta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jurkuvenaite
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steele
authors.forename: Sadis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matalon
authors.forename: Diana L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Noah
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D018925:Chemokines / Q000032:analysis; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009976:Orthomyxoviridae Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D053139:Oseltamivir / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D018925:Chemokines; D016207:Cytokines; D017931:DNA Primers; D053139:Oseltamivir; D012254:Ribavirin