Is a cure for the common cold on the way?

December 21, 2011 | Source: BBC News
antiviral

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]