Scientists May Have Discovered a Cure for the Common Cold (and Lots of Other Viruses)

A new virus-killing technique could hit the market in just a few years
By Dan Nosowitz
11.02.2010

Any immunology textbook will tell you that once a virus enters a cell, the only way to knock that virus out is to kill the entire cell. But a new study from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge has shown a way to kill a virus from within the cell, leaving the virus defeated and the cell victorious and intact. This could be huge--not just a cure for the common cold, but for all kinds of other viruses as well.

The study, which will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tackles a fundamental of immunology. It has long been assumed that the body's last chance to eliminate a virus is before it enters a cell--once it's inside, it's game over. You can kill the cell, but doing that too often is harmful to the body's health. But this new study shows that the body actually has its own in-cell defense mechanism that can attack viruses once they've entered a cell--and they're hopeful that this defense mechanism can be enhanced through external means, making the cells even stronger.

Antibodies in the bloodstream attach themselves to free-floating viruses, and are taken intact with the virus once it enters into a cell. Before that virus gets a chance to hijack the cell, a naturally occurring protein called TRIM21 recognizes the antibody, and further notices that there's an interloper (the virus) attached to it--which, according to the strict bouncer-like rules of the TRIM21 protein, is not allowed. (Antibodies can't roll one-virus deep, is what I'm saying.) The TRIM21 protein then triggers the cell's defense mechanisms, which can destroy the virus in as little as one or two hours--long before the virus has a chance to take over the cell. the rest image