Researchers from Saint Louis University and Utah State have discovered a strategy that could keep adenoviruses from replicating and causing sickness in humans, according to Medical Xpress.
Here are three notes:
1. Although adenoviruses are not generally very serious and only cause colds or eye infections, the viruses can replicate when a patient's immune system is suppressed. Adenoviruses can be very harmful for sick patients.
2. Researchers devised the strategy using an animal model they developed. They turned off the STAT2 gene in a group of Syrian hamsters, which disrupted the Type 1 interferon pathway. The Type 1 interferon is crucial to preventing adenoviruses from multiplying.
3. The study is the first of its kind to report findings with a genetically modified Syrian hamster infected with a virus. Researchers hope to use this animal model to develop models for many human diseases.
