US researchers have identified a group of molecules that inhibit a deadly toxin produced by inhalational anthrax. Dr Lewis Cantley and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston hope their discovery will enable scientists to develop a drug that fights the anthrax toxin in a similar way to that of protease inhibitors that are used to combat the AIDS virus HIV. The main advantage of using a protease inhibitor is that they could be used in combination with antibiotics as and when needed, unlike anti-serums which would have to be used prophylactically.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 29th December 2003.
