Understanding swine flu

The 2009 influenza pandemic currently sweeping the world is creating an urgent need for vaccines and drugs to treat patients and stop the spread of the virus.

The faculty is currently conducting two research projects that aim to facilitate treatment and minimise side effects.

Associate Professor Ossama El-Kabbani from the Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Action theme within MIPS and Dr Tony Velkov (Deakin University and MIPS) were recently awarded a National Health and Medical Research ouncil (NHMRC) grant of $179,500 to research swine flu.

The research project, titled The structure and receptor binding properties of the 2009 swine influenza pandemic virus hemagglutinin, is investigating the three dimensional crystal structure of the hemagglutinin molecule of the swine flu pandemic strain and designing small molecule inhibitors that target the sialic acid binding pocket. This data will contribute significantly to vaccine and drug development that will prevent future swine influenza pandemics and results of the project will be shared internationally.

Some antivirals currently being used to treat the H1N1 pandemic have been reported to induce neuropsychiatric side effects in some patients. A new project being undertaken by Dr Joe Nicolazzo (BPharm 1999, BPharmSc(Hons) 2001, PhD 2005) and Dr Michelle McIntosh (BPharm 1995, BPharm(Hons) 1996, PhD 2000) is exploring whether Relenza®, an antiviral drug used to treat and prevent influenza, is able to access the brain at concentrations necessary to induce similar side effects. If Relenza® exhibits poor penetration into the brain, it is likely to have limited neuropsychiatric side effects, providing an effective treatment for influenza without the associated side effects. This research is timely given the urgent need for the availability of treatments with a suitable safety profile.

Dr Nicolazzo and Dr McIntosh, researchers in the Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics theme within MIPS, are working in conjunction with Professor Mark von Itzstein of Griffith University on the project. In 1986, Professor von Itzstein and his research team were involved in the discovery of Relenza® at the Victorian College of Pharmacy, working on information provided by CSIRO scientists.

The methods being developed in this project are likely to be useful in assessing the potential of other anti-viral agents to gain entry into the central nervous system, including those to treat influenza, an area of research for which funding is actively being sought.