On October 7th, Zhang Chenyu, Dean of School of Life Sciences of Nanjing University, published an article in the top international academic journal Cell Research, revealing that a plant microRNA (MIR2911) directly targets influenza A virus, including H1N1,H5N1 and H7N9. Honeysuckle is rich in this kind of microRNA. After ingesting honeysuckle decoction, mice can reduce the mortality rate of various influenza viruses including H5N1 and prevent them from being infected with influenza A virus.
Zhang Chenyu introduced that plant microRNA is a kind of noncoding RNA with a length of about 19-24 nucleotides. In previous studies, the team has confirmed that those plant microRNA stably existing in mammalian serum and plasma are actively secreted by tissues and cells, which can be used as new biomarkers of diseases and play the role of intracellular molecular signal transmission.
The project team found that MIR2911 can be selectively enriched in honeysuckle decoction, and after drinking honeysuckle decoction, MIR2911 can be delivered into plasma and lung tissue. They also confirmed that MIR2911 can inhibit a variety of influenza viruses by targeting two genes, Pb2 and NS1, which are essential for influenza virus replication. Moreover, both synthetic MIR2911 and endogenous MIR2911 in honeysuckle decoction can effectively protect animals from H1N1 infection, and this protection depends on the binding site of MIR2911 on PB2 or NS1 gene. MIR2911 can also effectively inhibit the replication of influenza viruses H5N1 and H7N9, which indicates that it has broad-spectrum anti-H1N1 effect.
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