Medical

HIV and the common cold in the firing line of potential new treatment for viral disease

HIV and the common cold in the firing line of potential new treatment for viral disease
A new approach has the potential to combat some of the world’s most widespread viruses, including the common cold and the flu
A new approach has the potential to combat some of the world’s most widespread viruses, including the common cold and the flu
View 2 Images
Dr Stavros Selemidis and Dr Eunice To are part of a team that has discovered a potential new target for combatting viral infections
1/2
Dr Stavros Selemidis and Dr Eunice To are part of a team that has discovered a potential new target for combatting viral infections
A new approach has the potential to combat some of the world’s most widespread viruses, including the common cold and the flu
2/2
A new approach has the potential to combat some of the world’s most widespread viruses, including the common cold and the flu

Scientists have long struggled with finding effective ways to fight back against viral infections. An international investigation led by a team from RMIT in Melbourne has uncovered a previously undiscovered biological process that suppresses the body's natural antiviral response. This research could lead to entirely new treatment strategies for some of the world's most widespread viruses, including the common cold and the flu.

While we currently use antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, those drugs are not helpful when the body is attacked by a virus. Generally when one is struck down by a virus the treatment is to rely on the immune system to kick in and fight back. We currently have two standard ways to fight viruses: antiviral medications, taken within the first day or two of infection, or vaccines, that stimulate immune production of antibodies.

In searching for a new front to fight viral infections, the researchers discovered a 1.5 billion-year-old biological process whereby a virus triggers a protein that subsequently suppresses the body's natural antiviral response.

This protein is called Nox2 oxidase, and it has previously been found to play a role in stimulating the immune system to attack and kill pathogens such as bacteria and fungi. In this new research, scientists discovered that the Nox2 oxidase protein actually enhances the effects of viral attacks instead of inhibiting them.

The researchers then developed a targeted drug that could restrain the activity of Nox2 oxidase. In a study with mice they found the drug was effective in suppressing the effects of an influenza infection.

Dr Stavros Selemidis and Dr Eunice To are part of a team that has discovered a potential new target for combatting viral infections
Dr Stavros Selemidis and Dr Eunice To are part of a team that has discovered a potential new target for combatting viral infections

"We have identified a protein of the immune system that contributes to the disease caused by flu viruses irrespective of their strain," says Dr Stavros Selemidis, one of the senior authors on the project. "We also developed a novel drug delivery system to target this protein, which drastically alleviated the burden of viral disease."

The research raises the question of why this process could have evolved in the first place when it clearly causes the mammalian body harm. The researcher's hypothesize that this mechanism, stimulated by the Nox2 oxidase protein, evolved to aid the body's natural autoimmune response. The idea is that this natural mechanism exacerbates the viral pathogenicity to allow the body to ultimately generate a comprehensive autoimmune response.

The study also suggests that suppression of the Nox2 oxidase protein in the context of a short-term treatment would not cause long-term problems with the body's autoimmune response.

The discovery could lead to new antiviral treatments, with applications across a variety of viral diseases, from the flu to dengue and HIV. It also directs researchers to a new understanding of how a virus gains its foothold within the human body, meaning new treatment strategies could maintain a high efficacy in the face of new or mutating viral outbreaks.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Source: RMIT

2 comments
2 comments
dave33
There is one thing I don't understand. People have in their bodies the cures for many of these viruses. Take for example: ME!!! I don't get colds. Never had one. I either get really sick or not. I have been around people with colds and never, ever got a cold. People say they are miserable, but having never had one, I cannot relate to it. I have mentioned it to doctors, but they don't seem to care. If I have a body that keeps me from getting colds, you think that someone would be interested in finding out why and how to replicate it. With the amount of money spend on cold remedies that are marginal at best, the amount of money saved by employers would be billions. Can't understand why no one is interested. The other thing I don't understand is that my Mom doesn't get bitten by mosquitoes or fleas. She has no problems going outside where mosquitoes are present and while I was being bitten, she was perfectly fine. Whe I was growing up, they didn't have the flea control products they have now and growing up with cats, the fleas used to bite me incessantly. They never bothered her. You would think that with all the mosquito transmitted diseases that someone would want to know why they don't bite her and keep millions from getting sick from the viruses they carry. They would not need to send mosquito nets to places in Africa where they have a lot of mosquito borne diseases and that would save a lot of lives and money, but no one seems interested. I am sure that there are others that have these type of unique bodies, but haven't heard much about them. Hope that one day the medical community will realize this and explore why people are like this and help the world with new cures/controls. Oh well, when my Mom passes and I do as well, this info will be lost forever....
Cyrus
@dave33
What you're describing is merely a difference of human genetics, in terms of your mother not being attractive to mosquitoes and difference in your immune response to different pathogens (whether you get sick or not). Finding out which protein or gene is responsible can broaden our understanding of the underlying mechanism, and have already been done if you investigate a bit deeper, but it might not lead to a treatment option as gene therapy is very individualised due to the different genetic makeup of every person, so it is not really a thing you can apply to the mass. Also the gene responsible may or may not pass down to the next generation (such as your mother having the mosquito repellent gene and you don't) and this is determined by who the person reproduces with and the gene itself.
In conclusion, the research has probably been done already, and it most likely didn't lead to a new treatment option