An inhalational antiviral strategy for the potential use of nitric oxide during influenza infection

• Main Author: McMullin, Bevin Brent
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43212

Since the discovery in the late 1980’s that the endothelium relaxing factor is nitric oxide (NO) there has been intensive scientific pursuit to understand the many roles of NO in biological systems. NO is a messenger molecule with both paracrine and autocrine functions. NO is produced by phagocytes as part of the immune system as a non-specific antimicrobial which may be effective against Influenza. Influenza is a virus that infects millions of people each year resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. While vaccination and antivirals have helped reduce the death toll, their effectiveness is limited because of the rapidly evolving nature of the influenza virus and the development of resistance. The recent 2009 influenza pandemic has highlighted the need for new and novel antivirals. We hypothesize that the direct exposure of influenza viruses to gaseous nitric oxide (gNO) will have an antiviral effect. We also show that it is feasible and safe to deliver inhaled gNO to humans at antiviral concentrations using an intermittent high dose regimen. === Medicine, Faculty of === Medicine, Department of === Experimental Medicine, Division of === Graduate