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Role of Sialidase in the Initial Phase of Infection with Influenza Virus

Abstract

THERE have been numerous investigations of the role of sialidase (neuraminidase), but definitive evidence of its functional significance is lacking: a result of technical problems and inadequate experimental designs1. It has been proposed that the enzyme is involved: (a) in the initial phase of the infectious process; (b) during intracellular multiplication; and (c) in the release of virion from host cells. Thus a specific sialidase inhibitor could conceivably be used to investigate directly the function of the enzyme in the infectious cycle of virus multiplication1. At present, appropriate inhibitors are not available2, but it seemed possible to evaluate (a) by an experimental approach which involved specific anti-sialidase antiserum, and by determination of its effect on the infectivity of A2/Japan 305/57 influenza virus in chick embryonated eggs.

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SETO, J., OKUDA, K. & HOKAMA, Y. Role of Sialidase in the Initial Phase of Infection with Influenza Virus. Nature 213, 188–189 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213188a0

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