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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the saving-tissues dept.

Drug target for curing the common cold

UK scientists believe they may have found a way to combat the common cold.

Rather than attacking the virus itself, which comes in hundreds of versions, the treatment targets the human host. It blocks a key protein in the body's cells that cold viruses normally hijack to self-replicate and spread. This should stop any cold virus in its tracks if given early enough, lab studies suggest [DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0039-2] [DX]. Safety trials in people could start within two years.

The Imperial College London researchers are working on making a form of the drug that can be inhaled, to reduce the chance of side-effects. In the lab, it worked within minutes of being applied to human lung cells, targeting a human protein called NMT, Nature Chemistry journal reports.

Related: Vaccine Against the Common Cold may be Achievable


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:54PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:54PM (#680468)

    The body may need this "key" protein for something?

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:02PM (4 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:02PM (#680471) Journal

    Not to worry. If all the humans are dead, then viruses that target humans are going to be out of a job. Win-win, right?

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:05PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:05PM (#680472)

      Leave it to a conservative to come up with extinction as a game plan
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      /s yes I know, what you couldn't scroll down for the disclaimer??

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:21PM (1 child)

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:21PM (#680477)

      AC didn't mandate that blocking the protein would kill you.

      Look, if you block his protein, you'll never have a cold, but most likely a heart attack in the next 20 years.
      If you're young enough to care about a heart attack, use this new remedy which will prevent it, but guarantees a stroke within 30 years.
      Don't want a stroke? There's this experimental prion-derived drug that will solve that problem, but Creutsfeldt-Jacob is pretty certain by the 40th anniversary.
      And if you're too young to want that, I'm sure you don't want the new pill will will cure all of this but leave you impotent starting tomorrow.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:53PM

      by Bot (3902) on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:53PM (#680487) Journal

      My AI suggests you might be employing sarcasm in your post, but I fail to detect any.

      --
      Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by DavePolaschek on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:21PM (1 child)

    by DavePolaschek (6129) on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:21PM (#680478) Homepage Journal

    That's why it says

    Further studies are needed to make sure it is not toxic in the body though.

    Killing the host is one way to make sure it doesn't catch a cold.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 17 2018, @05:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 17 2018, @05:03PM (#680773)

      I keep wondering why more people do not medicate with potassium cyanide,
      it cures every disease and unlike the drugs from big pharma only has one minor side effect.

  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday May 16 2018, @07:37PM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Wednesday May 16 2018, @07:37PM (#680498) Journal

    The body may need this "key" protein for something?

    Of course. After all, the summary says:

    Rather than attacking the virus itself, which comes in hundreds of versions, the treatment targets the human host.

    And how better attack the human host than by attacking the host's key proteins? ;-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @11:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @11:07PM (#680541)

    It works through deception. They tell you about the best invention ever and it turns out it was a hoax. It gave you diseases you can never get rid of.

    They won't stop doing this. Spending big money to create diseases that cannot be fought. Diseases that are invisible and you accept them yourself, like most (not all) vaccines. Now they want to shut down your key proteins so you can do more slave work for the khazar banker vermin. The common cold is nature's way to give you a vacation you will otherwise not get. I don't think there has been any research (that was allowed to be distributed) about the good things brought by the common cold. There has got to be at least a few.