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Posted on May 17, 2018, 1 p.m.
A new developed molecule which acts on human cells may provide hope for a cure to the common cold by preventing it from hijacking human cells, as published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
Lab tests on human cells, which are still in early stages, show the molecule’s ability to completely block multiple strains of cold virus, it is hopeful this will move onto animal and human trials soon.
Colds are caused by a virus family with hundreds of variants, making it impossible to vaccinate against or become immune to all of them; add to that viruses evolve and mutate rapidly to gain resistance to drugs. Most cold remedies because of those reasons rely on treating the symptoms of infections rather than taking on the virus itself.
A newly developed molecule targets N-myristoyltransferase protein in human cells, which are hijacked by viruses to construct the protein shell that protects the virus genome. Molecules target a human protein not the virus it makes emergence of resistance highly unlikely. All strains of the virus need this human protein to make copies of themselves, the molecule will work against them, as well as polio and foot and mouth disease viruses.
Previous attempts to create such drug have had unwanted side effects of being toxic. The new molecule, codenamed IMP-1088 is more than 100 times more potent than previous molecules targeting the human protein, has shown to completely block several strains of virus without affecting human cells. It was noted that further studies are required to determine if the molecule would be toxic in the body.
Materials provided by Imperial College London.
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Journal Reference:
Aurélie Mousnier, Andrew S. Bell, Dawid P. Swieboda, Julia Morales-Sanfrutos, Inmaculada Pérez-Dorado, James A. Brannigan, Joseph Newman, Markus Ritzefeld, Jennie A. Hutton, Anabel Guedán, Amin S. Asfor, Sean W. Robinson, Iva Hopkins-Navratilova, Anthony J. Wilkinson, Sebastian L. Johnston, Robin J. Leatherbarrow, Tobias J. Tuthill, Roberto Solari, Edward W. Tate. Fragment-derived inhibitors of human N-myristoyltransferase block capsid assembly and replication of the common cold virus. Nature Chemistry, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0039-2
