Influenza A virus host interaction map reveals hijacking

Scientists have created the most detailed map to date of how the influenza A virus commandeers human cells, revealing a previously unknown hijacking strategy that could open new avenues for antiviral drug development. The research, published on July 20, 2026, in the journal Nature Microbiology, was conducted by a team from EMBL Hamburg in collaboration with the Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, Charité Berlin, and other institutions.

The study marks the first time researchers have mapped direct virus-host protein contacts on a large scale inside intact, infected human cells with sufficient structural detail to model how the proteins physically fit together. To achieve this, the scientists employed a customized technique called in-cell crosslinking mass spectrometry (XLMS), which chemically "freezes" protein interactions as they occur in living cells. This method was combined with computational modeling using a modified version of the AlphaFold algorithm and advanced microscopy.

The global impact of influenza underscores the importance of this foundational research. Seasonal flu causes serious illness in 3 to 5 million people and claims up to 650,000 lives...