By decoding all 99 strains of the common cold virus and developing a catalog of its vulnerabilities, researchers now have all the pieces in place to potentially find a cure for the common cold. Researchers compared the 99 genomes with one another, enabling them to arrange the genomes into a new “rhinovirus family tree” based on how strains are related and how they differ. “We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles’ heel, and that a very effective treatment for the common cold is at hand,” says the study’s senior author, Dr. Stephen Liggett, an asthma expert at the University of Maryland. Dr. Liggett notes that finding a cure for the common cold has remained elusive because the rhinovirus is so complex.
The family tree has shown that some regions of the genome change constantly, while others have remained the same, even surviving evolution. It is believed that those regions that have not changed perform vital functions and the virus cannot allow them to change without killing itself. Dr. Liggett says that these regions are ideal targets for drugs, because, in principle, any one of the 99 strains would be affected by the same drug. He is looking at one such target at the beginning of the genome, where its genetic material is folded into a cloverleaf shape, and the sequence of chemical units in the cloverleaf can be read quickly by the infected cell’s protein-making machinery.
Transforming a genetic discovery into an actual drug that can be marketed is very difficult. Carl Seiden, President of Seiden Pharmaceutical Strategies, says that “the industry might be loath to wade in because Relenza and Tamiflu, two drugs that ameliorated flu but did not cure it, were huge commercial disappointments.” Moreover, the cost of developing a new drug averages $700 million, and as a result, the Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to approve an expensive drug for so mild a disease. Yet the virus can wreak havoc in the elderly and in children. “We generally think of colds as a nuisance, but they can be debilitating in the very young and in older individuals and can trigger asthma attacks at any age,” Dr. Liggett says. “Also, recent studies indicate that early infection in children can program their immune system to develop asthma by adolescence.”
Dr. Fernando Martinez, an asthma expert at the University of Arizona, says that the “new rhinovirus family tree should make it possible for the first time to identify which particular branch of the tree held the viruses most provocative to asthma patients.” And if a drug were possible, “it would be an extraordinary advance,” he adds. Another asthma expert, Dr. E. Kathryn Miller at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, says the new finding was “a groundbreaking study of major significance.”
News Release: Cure for the common cold? Not yet, but possible www.godlikeproductions.com February 14, 2009
