MicroRNA-mediated species-specific attenuation of influenza A virus.

Influenza A virus leads to yearly epidemics and sporadic pandemics. Present prophylactic strategies focus on egg-grown, live, attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs), in which attenuation is generated by conferring temperature sensitivity onto the virus. Here we describe an alternative approach to attenuating influenza A virus based on microRNA-mediated gene silencing.