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Anti-cancer drugs can help fight the flu
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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According to the World Health Organization, severe influenza kills between three and five million people every year, 500,000 of whom die from the infection itself or from complications caused by it.
Researchers from the Finnish Institute of Molecular Medicine (FIMM) and a team of other scientists have developed a new screening method that could be used to develop new drugs to treat influenza viruses. The results of their research have appeared in the online journal Biological Chemistry.
Scientists have been able to identify new effective means to combat influenza. According to scientists, the drugs obatoclax and gemcitabine, used to combat cancer, as well as saliphenylhalamide, can help protect the body from viral infections.
Experts warn that the danger of influenza should not be underestimated, since an untreated viral infection can lead to serious complications and even death.
Many drugs have been developed to treat influenza viruses. However, the influenza virus has one property that is useful for it, but extremely harmful for us - the ability to quickly evolve.
The flu virus is subject to random mutations, so the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) proteins are constantly updated. Thus, antiviral drugs simply stop working, because their components are “trained” for the old strain, so they recognize mutated species worse than non-mutated ones.
After some time, the mutated strain of the virus takes the place of the non-mutated one, which simply dies out. It turns out that most drugs fight the flu in a cyclical system, and the battle between the virus and drugs continues for decades.
Finnish scientists believe that the results of these studies will form the basis for the development of next-generation drugs.
"All of these drugs (obatoclax, gemcitabine, and saliphenylhalamide) are anti-cancer drugs, they destroy cancer cells and prevent their proliferation. However, to achieve an antiviral effect, a small concentration of them is needed," says study co-author Denis Kainov. "In order for these drugs to be used in the treatment of influenza infections, they need to be further studied."
The scientists' research is an example of how the properties of medicines already known to medicine may not be fully studied and therefore their potential is not fully revealed. A medicine used to treat a certain disease may also be useful in the fight against another ailment.
Scientists conclude that pharmacists should not only develop new drugs, but also study existing ones.
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