Scientists in Britain have used gene-editing techniques to stop bird flu spreading in chicken cells grown in a lab - a key step towards making genetically-altered chickens that could halt a human flu pandemic.

Bird flu viruses currently spread swiftly in wild birds and poultry, and can at times jump into humans. 

Global health and infectious disease specialists cite as one of their greatest concerns the threat of a human flu pandemic caused by a bird flu strain that makes such a jump and mutates into a deadly and airborne form that can pass easily between people.

In the latest study, by editing out a section of chicken DNA inside the lab-grown cells, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute prevented the bird flu virus from taking hold in the cells and replicating.

The next step will be to try to produce chickens with the same genetic change, said Mike McGrew of the Roslin Institute, who co-led the research. 

"This is an important advance that suggests we may be able to use gene-editing techniques to produce chickens that are resistant to bird flu," McGrew said in a statement.

Reuters