From the MIT Lincoln Laboratory:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory researchers develop a technique to cure a broad range of viruses
Viral pathogens pose serious health threats worldwide. For clinical viruses such as HIV or hepatitis, emerging viruses such as avian or swine influenza, and highly lethal viruses such as Ebola or smallpox that might be used in bioterrorist attacks, relatively few therapeutics or prophylactics (preventatives) exist. Most therapeutics that do exist are highly specific for one virus, are ineffective against virus strains that become resistant to them, or have adverse effects on patients.
As part of the PANACEA (for Pharmacological Augmentation of Nonspecific Anti-pathogen Cellular Enzymes and Activities) project, researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed and demonstrated a novel broad-spectrum antiviral approach, called DRACO (for Double-stranded RNA [dsRNA] Activated Caspase Oligomerizer). DRACO selectively induces apoptosis, or cell suicide, in cells containing any viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. As a result, DRACO should be effective against virtually all viruses, rapidly terminating a viral infection while minimizing the impact on the patient.
Link has pics of slides.
I'll be the first to say it: with project names resulting in acronyms like PANACEA and DRACO, from any other source, it would smell like a hoax, but the article is well worth a read and dispels much of that impression (seriously? PANACEA? DRACO?). What they claim to have done here is very slick, and while limited to one category of viruses (apparently, only viruses that use dsRNA or those that transition through a dsRNA phase), it's still a big, bold step in the direction of doing what I was always taught was impossible: creating a cure for all viruses.
I'll also add an element I didn't see discussed elsewhere. I'm a big fan of a television show called Torchwood. In its current incarnation, Miracle Day, suddenly, nobody dies- of anything. The series has brought up a whole wonderchest full of ethical problems for us, the viewers, to ponder as we watch.
This 'viral cure' is of a similar bent. What would happen if we could suddenly cure all viruses that affect us? We would have on our hands an instant population boom, and all the attendant effects of that in today's economy. We would see instant shifts in social norms, as sexual activity suddenly stopped having such unreasonably dire consequences. I think we should consider that as well.
In any case, I thought this was... interesting (truthfully, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor). But, even if this is an out-and-out hoax for some reason, what would be the ethics of a 'viral cure'? Are we as a civilization prepared to deal with a seismic shift of that magnitude?
