I would try to say something intelligent but the article pretty much says it all:
Most bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, discovered decades ago. However, such drugs are useless against viral infections, including influenza, the common cold, and deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.
In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them -- including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.
The drug works by targeting a type of RNA produced only in cells that have been infected by viruses. "In theory, it should work against all viruses," says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory’s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology.
Because the technology is so broad-spectrum, it could potentially also be used to combat outbreaks of new viruses, such as the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, Rider says.
And yeah, it's not on the market yet, nor will it be for many years...
Rider drew inspiration for his therapeutic agents, dubbed DRACOs (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers), from living cells’ own defense systems...
Most of the tests reported in this study were done in human and animal cells cultured in the lab, but the researchers also tested DRACO in mice infected with the H1N1 influenza virus. When mice were treated with DRACO, they were completely cured of the infection. The tests also showed that DRACO itself is not toxic to mice.
The researchers are now testing DRACO against more viruses in mice and beginning to get promising results. Rider says he hopes to license the technology for trials in larger animals and for eventual human clinical trials.
But what if science could land a man on the Moon AND cure the common cold? Would Republicans start being 'reality based'? Nah.
Full Disclosure: I was a student intern at Lincoln Laboratories for a few years. Long, long ago and far away.
Full Disclosure: I have had colds.
Full Disclosure: I have no idea what Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers are, and likely neither do you. But someone does. From a comment by dopper0189:
Caspase are the folds in proteins that regulate the formation of larger more complex proteins. Double stranded RNA are the "DNA" of viruses. Oligomerizers are when you take a few monomers (chemical groups) and then use them to form a sort of polymer. Polymers are things like nylon where it's the same molecule over and over, a Oligomer would be a few different monomers repeated over and over. Most Oligomerizers form chains of something like 10-150 molecules.
In laymen's term this is the function that causes a healthy cells DNA to to be taken over by a virus' RNA (double stranded RNA), form the "Virus" molecules (activated Caspase), then repeat it over and over to form the virus (Oligomerizers).
See this comment, from the comments section.
And this comment, which casts doubt on the above explanation, especially where the term 'fold' is used in reference to the protein.
Here's another explanation from the comments:
DRACO is a caspase-like protein that contains two parts of different proteins, assembled by the researches. When two of the DRACO proteins bind to the same double-stranded viral RNA, thereby oligomerizing, the caspase function is activated, and process of cell death is initiated. If this occurs enough times, voila - the infected cell is killed.
And this one is good too.
A few comments posted to the article:
Apparently works great in tissue culture. But success as an Rx is less certain, since the presumably costly drug non-selectively enters every cell in the body: "Each DRACO also includes a “delivery tag,” taken from naturally occurring proteins, that allows it to cross cell membranes and enter ANY human or animal cell. However, if no dsRNA is present, DRACO leaves the cell unharmed."
It may be far too costly for human use, even if applied locally or topically. But let's await studies in larger animals and humans before calling it "a cure (for) nearly any viral infection."
H.R. Biotech consultant
Great news -- but how will how our mitochondrial overlords react to this?
Kudos to the MIT team. You guys deserve a Nobel prize!