COVID-19 got us talking about viruses and antiviral treatment and antiviral therapies in general, but the truth is that these tiny organisms have been bothering humanity for the entirety of our history. In fact, now we are better equipped to fight them.
Researchers at the Universities of York, York St John, and Leeds designed a new approach to defeating viruses, attacking the very way they assemble around their genomes.
New approach in antiviral therapies
Scientists utilized our improved understanding of microscopic structures of viruses and designed a way to force viruses to assemble innocuous versions of the virus that are ‘empty’ of the pathogenic nucleic acid inside.
These innocuous versions, called therapeutic interfering particles (or TIPs) still stimulate the immune system like a real virus, but are harmless in nature due to the fact that they don’t have any pathogenic material. In a way, this acts as a vaccine, but is an antiviral therapy instead, misdirecting the production facilities of viruses.
And so this kind of approach could have a two-pronged effect. First of all, viruses wouldn’t be able to replicate to launch a greater attack against the host organism’s cells. Secondly, these TIPs would actually boost the immune system, making the organism (such as human) more immune to viruses like that.
Professor Reidun Twarock, one of the authors of the study, said: “We are turning the tables on viruses by using insights into how they assemble to design artificial particles that, akin to a wolf in sheep’s clothing, look like viruses from the outside but are not infectious. These particles, called therapeutic interfering particles, compete with viruses for resources, and thus combat viral infections.”
Future Potential
One of the viral infections that could be treated using this new approach is Hepatitis C. The modeling work in this study was completed as part of a research to control Hepatitis C virus infections. TIPs could compete with real “evil” viruses as well as arm the body to combat those viruses more efficiently.
However, probably the most impressive part of this research is the ability to tailor this approach to combating many different kinds of viruses. In essence, this novel antiviral treatment could work for treatment of many different viruses to create bespoke antiviral agents.
When could we expect therapeutic interfering particles to become part of clinical treatments for viral infections? Well, fighting viruses with deactivated viruses is quite a novel approach. This means that many different trials and tests will have to be completed. But soon enough we may be treating Hepatitis C virus infections and other similar diseases with TIPs. Although it is definitely several years down the line.
Source: University of York
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