New Strategy for Fighting Viral Diseases

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new anti-viral drug is showing promise in fighting viral diseases, including potential bioterrorism agents, according to a new study.

Scientists infected groups of guinea pigs with a virus similar to Lassa fever -- an endemic disease in portions of West Africa, where the disease is carried by rats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Lassa fever as a Category A bioterrorism agent, the same class as Ebola.

In the study, half of the guinea pigs recovered completely from the virus when they were given the drug bavituximab, which was developed by researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The study’s authors said this is the first report of a therapeutic treatment being effective against advanced Lassa-like fever infections in animals.

In a second experiment, researchers gave both bavituximab and ribavirin, a common anti-viral medication, to infected guinea pigs, and 63 percent of the animals survived.

In other experiments, bavituximab treatment was also able to cure mice infected with cytomegalovirus, an opportunistic infection that afflicts transplant and AIDS patients.

The UT scientists developed bavituximab to bind to phosphatidylserine, a lipid molecule that flips from its normal position on the internal surface of a cell to the outside of the cell when the cell is infected by a virus. Dr. Phillip Thorpe, a professor of pharmacology at UT Southwestern and the study’s lead author, predicted that the interaction with bavituximab would muster the body’s immune cells to attack and destroy the infected cells before the virus had a chance to replicate.

“This approach reduces the ability of the virus to escape attack by a drug,” Thorpe was quoted as saying.

Bavituximab is currently in clinical trials to treat patients with hepatitis C and it has been shown to be safe for patients.

Researches say this new approach to attacking viruses could lead to new ways of treating HIV, influenza, the herpes simplex virus, and viruses in the families of the small pox and rabies viruses.

SOURCE: Nature Medicine, December 2008