New Nordic BioSite GeneTex antibodies help turn the tables on influenza

Täby, Sweden: – As Northern Europe staggers under one of the worst winter flu outbreaks in recent decades, Nordic BioSite, the leading Scandinavian supplier of validated biotechnology products, has expanded its range with several GeneTex antibodies that have potential for the development of targeted therapies to reverse virus-induced metabolic reprogramming.

Influenza is a persistent yet ever-changing threat to global public health, inflicting significant morbidity and mortality on vulnerable populations. With the often limited efficacy of both vaccination and antiviral medications due to viral escape (alterations), attention has turned to innovative therapeutic strategies that focus on metabolic reprogramming.

Cellular targets

Recent studies have demonstrated that certain viruses alter host cell metabolism to create viral replication niches1. Smallwood et al. investigated influenza virus-induced metabolic changes in normal primary human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells with the goal of identifying cellular targets required for viral infection that are candidates for pharmacological intervention2.

Using quantitative mass spectrometry, the authors found that infected NHBE cells had increases in c-Myc levels, glycolysis, and glutaminolysis. Intriguingly, a metabolic drug screen revealed that the PI3K/mTOR inhibitor BEZ235 countered these changes in infected cells and decreased viral titer and in vivo mortality. These findings highlight the concept that targeting the metabolic reprogramming driven by influenza and other viruses may offer potentially exciting approaches to new therapies.

GeneTex antibodies

BioSite’s product portfolio now includes an outstanding selection of GeneTex antibodies to support virus research, metabolism research, and mTOR signaling pathways.

These antibodies share a number of common features in being cited and independently reviewed, validated for multiple applications e.g., WB, ICC/IF, IHC-P, EM, IP, ELISA, ChIP, etc, and are Knockout/Knockdown validated using CRISPR- or RNAi-mediated technologies.

In influenza virus research, GeneTex has developed a wide range of antibodies that target different strains of Influenza A, Influenza B and Influenza C. These include:

• Influenza A Virus H7N7 HA antibody
• Influenza A virus NS1 antibody
• Influenza A virus NP antibody
• Influenza A Virus M2 antibody
• Influenza A Virus H7N7 HA antibody (GTX127303)
• Influenza A virus NS1 antibody (GTX125990)
• Influenza A virus NP antibody (GTX125989)
• Influenza A Virus M2 antibody (GTX125951)

References:
1. Virology. 2015 May;479-480:609-18.
2. Cell Rep. 2017 May 23;19(8):1640-1653.

About Nordic BioSite

Since the late 1990s, Nordic BioSite (BioSite) has become recognized as one of the pharma industry’s most innovative and customer-responsive supplier of high quality validated biotechnology products for research, diagnostics, immunology and molecular biology.

The company serves pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic and academic organizations with more than two million unique products in more than 30 different groups, ranging from antibodies to genetic vectors. These are sourced from selected manufacturers and laboratories in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

BioSite continuously introduces new products as a result of its own R&D, leveraged by close partnerships with manufacturers and feedback from customers.

Nordic BioSite’s company strapline, By Your Side™, defines a company ethos of partnering life science customers, helping to find the right products and services, so that researchers can achieve their goals across the whole spectrum of research.
BioSite also operates as a CRO through its Finnish-based cGLP laboratory, BioSiteHisto. BioSiteHisto offers a range of cutting-edge custom laboratory services including histology (e.g., immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence methods), sample processing for histology, imaging and image analysis, and antibody validation.