Nothing to be sniffed at! Could an inhaler cure colds?
IT is the holy grail for scientists, who have figured out DNA and dinosaurs – but so far still not killed off the common cold.
A long-awaited cure for the cold virus may now be in sight, and could be taken using a simple inhaler.
While we currently only treat sneeze and sniffle symptoms, British scientists have found a way to stop the virus hijacking our bodies in the first place.
An experimental drug targets a protein in the body which is ‘stolen’ by the cold virus to build a protective shield that helps it spread. The breakthrough is hoped to improve upon previous attempts to cure the cold which have focused on tackling the virus itself, rather than using the human body against it.
These usually fail because there are around 200 different strains of cold, which can quickly evolve to resist drugs.
Professor Ed Tate of Imperial College London, whose team made the discovery, said: ‘A drug like this could be extremely beneficial if given early in infection, and we are working on making a version that could be inhaled.’
The common cold, which plagues even the healthiest among us, is so difficult to tackle because of the different viruses which cause it. But one of the most common is rhinovirus, which causes 40 per cent of cases. Looking for a drug to fight rhinovirus as soon as a runny nose and tickly throat start, the researchers found a molecule codenamed IMP-1088. It tackles the human protein which helps the virus create its armour. Without that, it is vulnerable and cannot copy itself to spread.
While colds cause just a few days of misery in most people, they can be much more serious for the elderly and vulnerable.
Dr Peter Barlow, associate professor in immunology and infection at Edinburgh Napier University, said: ‘While this study was conducted entirely in vitro [outside the body], using cells to model rhinovirus infection in the laboratory, it shows great promise in terms of eventually developing a drug treatment to combat the effects of this virus in patients.’
The early tests suggest that the drug causes no harm to host cells, and may also work against other related viruses, including those responsible for polio and foot-and-mouth disease.
However it is not clear if it would work for the other strains of the cold virus.
Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said the new compound was ‘impressive’, but warned: ‘The compound might be difficult to deliver, or it might be toxic when administered and cause unacceptable side-effects, or the virus might be able to develop resistance.’
The drug is potentially five years away from clinical trials and – if successful – could be available in a decade, the authors said.
Their findings are reported in the journal Nature Chemistry.
‘Great promise as a treatment’