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.

• Jin Yeul Ma(Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM)-Based Herbal Drug Research Group, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) Corresponding author
• Eun Ha Kim(College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University)
• Jun Han Lee(College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University)
• Min-Suk Song(College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University)
• Yun Hee Baek(College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University)
• Young Ki Choi(College of Medicine and Medical Research Institute, Chungbuk National University)