DRACO antiviral kills infected cells to cure everything from common colds to hemorrhagic fever.
MIT researchers have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells.
DRACO detects infected cells based on the length of the dsRNA sequences and then kills those cells.
The approach has been tested in vitro and in mice with a wide variety of viruses, including H1N1, dengue fever and numerous rhinoviruses which cause the common cold.
Further testing in humans could result in a drug which can prevent or cure most viral infections.
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