Abstract
THE inhibition of haemagglutination by indicator influenza virus using mucoprotein inhibitors is a well-established observation1. It has been proposed that for a molecule to inhibit viral haemagglutination it must not only contain sialic acid as an end-group susceptible to neuraminidase, but also be of ‘minimum size’2. Orosomucoid3, a serum glycoprotein containing 11 per cent of neuraminidase-susceptible sialic acid, however, does not inhibit viral haemagglutination4. It has been suggested that orosomucoid may fail as an inhibitor because its molecular weight of 41,000 is too low2. We have found that incubation of this glycoprotoin at 80° C caused it to polymerize in solution and to become an active inhibitor of certain strains of influenza virus5. Further observations on this phenomenon are reported here.
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WHITEHEAD, P., FLEWETT, T., FOSTER, J. et al. Inhibition of Influenza Virus Haemagglutination by Polymerized Orosomucoid. Nature 208, 915–916 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/208915a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/208915a0
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