The influenza virus is an important respiratory risk affecting humans, and effective treatments
are needed. Some oriental medicines are currently applied for treatment of common colds as well as influenza
infection. Previous studies have reported th...
The influenza virus is an important respiratory risk affecting humans, and effective treatments
are needed. Some oriental medicines are currently applied for treatment of common colds as well as influenza
infection. Previous studies have reported that the therapeutic properties of MA-128 are effective for treatment of
psoriasis antiasthmatic and atopic dermatitis. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic properties of the novel
herbal medicine, MA-128, for treatment of influenza virus infection by oral administration. MA-128 is an active
natural biological compound from herbal-marine origin. The results showed that oral administration of MA-128
in mice could confer a survival benefit against Type A influenza virus infection. Daily oral administration of MA-
128 resulted in delayed death in infected mice for three days against mouse adapted H3N2 (A/Philippines/2/82).
However, it protected more than 60% of mice from lethal infection of 2009 pandemic H1N1 (A/Korea/CJ01/2009)
influenza virus. In addition, lung viral titers were significantly reduced at seven days post infection (~100 times)
compared with mock-treated mice and viruses were cleared at 9 dpi only in the MA-128 treated groups. This study
demonstrated the potential of the novel herbal medicine, MA-128, as an herbal remedy against influenza A viruses.