Is a cure for the common cold on the way?
December 21, 2011 | Source: BBC News
The microscope images above show that DRACO successfully treats viral infections. In the left set of four photos, rhinovirus (the common cold virus) kills untreated human cells (lower left), whereas DRACO has no toxicity in uninfected cells (upper right) and cures an infected cell population (lower right). Similarly, in the right set of four photos, dengue hemorrhagic fever virus kills untreated monkey cells (lower left), whereas DRACO has no toxicity in uninfected cells (upper right) and cures an infected cell population (lower right). (Credit: Todd H. Rider et al)
Todd Rider, an MIT research scientist, is developing an antiviral drug called Draco that has proven successful in lab trials with human tissue and mice against all 15 viruses it has used for. .
These include the common cold, H1N1 or swine flu, a polio virus, dengue fever and the notorious and fatal Ebola virus.
Rider “wired together” two natural proteins — one that detects virus entry, and another that acts as a suicide switch that kills the infected cell.
A broad-based antiviral could obliterate the threat of a global pandemic and mitigate health scares such as that caused by the Sars virus in 2002 or bird flu in 2009.
Ref.: Todd H. Rider et al., Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics, PLoS ONE, 2011 [doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022572]
Comments (4)
by IQ146
I already have a cure for the common cold, what’s the fuss all about. I last had a full blown cold around twenty years ago. Now, when I feel that tickle in the throat [quite rare now] I take echinacea and it is gone. I iften take echinacea daily as a prophylactic – it fine tunes and stimulates the body’s immune system, so aids the throwing off of any and all infections. Taher than the hi-tech chemical cosh of modern medicine, I prefer the self healing of the natural way. Why do wild animals survive without a health service? They have immune systems, something hominids appear to have forgotten along with much else that’s natural. I haven’t had flu for around the same time span. Echinacea can be bought in chemists, wholefood stores and even supermarkets now, it’s a no-brainer.
by Bri
Wild animals survive without a health care system? You’ve never spent time studying the natural world. Bats are dying from fungal infections, last I saw quwala bears were being decimated by herpes. Can’t forget colony collapse disorder killing bee’s. Even Tasmanian Devils are being wiped out by a bizarre virus. Your very selective in your choice of information. Charlse Darwin noticed that animals suffer from redraws. Ebola and Syphilis both originated in animals. What do you think they mean when they say bird flu, or swine flu?
by Bri
Only a cell phone can change disease into redraw, spell check my &$@?.
by Cybernettr
I hope something comes of this, but there have been a lot of false promises concerning colds in the past (zinc anyone?). I know that curing the common cold is not a trivial task, because it involves not one virus but hundreds, but it will be hard to take the promises of radical life extension seriously as long as colds exist. People will always say, “If we’re so smart, why haven’t we found a cure for the common cold?”