New treatment can fight all viruses -- study
POSTED August 16, 2011 - 17:49 | POSTED BY Anter Prakash Singh
Last edited by Simmy Mishra on August 16, 2011 - 19:39
New technique can fight many viruses
The new treatment uses a drug called DRACOs (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers)and the researchers from the Lincoln Laboratory of MIT have published their research in the journal, ‘PLoS One.’
At present, Penicillin and antibiotics that are used to treat bacterial infections have very little success in curing common cold, Ebola, influenza and other viral infections.
The scientists said that they have tried their new technique against 15 different types of viruses and gained success in case of every virus. The viruses, against which the new treatment was tested included hemorrhagic fever, H1N1 influenza and rhinoviruses.
How the treatment works?
The researchers said the drug targets a particular RNA that is only present in the infected cells by any kind of virus. This allowed them to treat the virus without causing damage to the healthy cells in the body.
The researchers said that they were inspired to develop the DRACOs after giving close consideration to the natural defence system of the body.
The researchers used human and animal cell cultures in the lab most of the time but they also conducted the research on mice which were infected with H1N1 influenza virus.
Whenever a virus attacks a cell, it uses the natural replication system of the cell to create more copies of it. In this takeover, a double standard RNA is created that is not created in case of normal cells. The present antivirus treatments target only specific viruses and even these few treatments are subject to resistance by the virus.
Senior staff scientist, Todd Rider said this would be a completely new way of treating infections if they gained success in treating humans.
According to Rider, “If you detect a pathogen bacterium in the environment, there is probably an antibiotic that could be used to treat someone exposed to that, I realized there are very few treatment out there for viruses.”
Clinical tests on humans are not conducted yet so it is unclear if the treatment would be able to move to clinics from the lab.
