從糖中提取的“改變游戲規(guī)則”的分子可以殺死感染病毒

從糖中提取的“改變游戲規(guī)則”的分子可以殺死感染病毒

Researchers have developed a sweet new antiviral agent derived from sugar that destroys viruses on contact. It’s still early days for the research, but the "game-changing" molecule holds some potential to fight against viral outbreaks.

研究人員已經(jīng)開發(fā)出一種新型的甜味抗病毒藥物，這種藥物是從糖中提取的，可以在接觸時殺死病毒。雖然這項研究還處于早期階段，但這種“改變游戲規(guī)則”的分子在對抗病毒爆發(fā)方面具有一定的潛力。

Reported in the journal Science Advances, researchers engineered the new molecule from cyclodextrins, a family of natural glucose derivatives that hold broad-spectrum antiviral properties and a bunch of other handy characteristics.

發(fā)表在《科學進展》(Science Advances)雜志上的研究報告稱，研究人員利用環(huán)糊精設計了這種新分子。這是一類天然的葡萄糖衍生物，具有廣譜抗病毒特性和其他一些便利的特性。

Viruses are a real pain to kill, especially once they’ve set up camp in a host. Most antivirals actually just slow down their growth. Many true “virucidal” substances, such as bleach, can be effective at destroying viruses on contact but are equally capable of killing human cells too.

病毒是一種很難殺死的東西，特別是當它們在宿主體內安營扎寨的時候。大多數(shù)抗病毒藥實際上只是減緩它們的生長。許多真正的“殺毒”物質，如漂白劑，可以有效地殺死接觸的病毒，但同樣也能殺死人類細胞。

Tom Hale

This new molecule, however, is able to overcome this problem. Experiments carried out in a petri dish and live mice showed that the agent was able to kill HIV, herpes simplex virus, respiratory syncytial virus, dengue, and Zika. On top of that, viruses appeared to find it difficult to gain resistance to the molecule, a common problem with many current antiviral treatments. The sugar-derived molecule is also biocompatible and shows no signs of being toxic to living tissue.

然而，這種新分子能夠克服這個問題。在有蓋培養(yǎng)皿和活老鼠中進行的實驗表明，該制劑能夠殺死艾滋病病毒、單純皰疹病毒、呼吸道合胞體病毒、登革熱和寨卡病毒。最重要的是，病毒似乎發(fā)現(xiàn)很難獲得對這種分子的耐藥性，這是當前許多抗病毒治療的一個常見問題。這種糖源性分子也具有生物相容性，對活組織沒有毒性。

“We have successfully engineered a new molecule, which is a modified sugar that shows broad-spectrum antiviral properties,” Dr Samuel Jones from the University of Manchester and Dr Valeria Cagno, a researcher at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, said in a joint statement.

曼徹斯特大學的Samuel Jones博士和UNIGE醫(yī)學院的Valeria Cagno博士在一份聯(lián)合聲明中說:“我們已經(jīng)成功地設計了一種新的分子，它是一種經(jīng)過修飾的糖，具有廣譜抗病毒特性。”

“The antiviral mechanism is virucidal meaning that viruses struggle to develop resistance. As this is a new type of antiviral and one of the first to ever show broad-spectrum efficacy, it has potential to be a game-changer in treating viral infections.”

“抗病毒機制是抗病毒的，這意味著病毒很難產生耐藥性。由于這是一種新型的抗病毒藥物，而且是最早顯示出廣譜療效的藥物之一，它有可能成為治療病毒感染的游戲規(guī)則改變者。”

As noted, much more research is needed before we fully understand how effective this molecule is in real-world situations. However, so far, it’s looking promising. The molecule has been patented and a company has been established to get this treatment out of the lab and onto chemists’ shelves. The researchers say they can easily imagine using the molecule in treatments such as topic creams, ointments, or nasal sprays for viral infections.

如前所述，在我們完全了解這種分子在現(xiàn)實世界中的有效性之前，還需要更多的研究。然而，到目前為止，它看起來很有希望。這種分子已經(jīng)獲得了專利，并成立了一家公司，將這種治療方法從實驗室推廣到化學家的貨架上。研究人員表示，他們可以很容易地想象在治療中使用這種分子，比如面霜、軟膏或用于治療病毒感染的鼻噴劑。

There are also higher hopes that it could be used in the battle against new emerging viral threats.

人們也更希望它能被用于對抗新出現(xiàn)的病毒威脅。

“We developed a powerful molecule able to work against very different viruses, therefore, we think this could be game-changing also for emerging infections,” added Professor Caroline Tapparel from UNIGE Faculty of Medicine and Professor Francesco Stellacci from EPFL, two senior authors of the study.

“我們開發(fā)了一種強大的分子，能夠對抗非常不同的病毒，因此，我們認為這可能也會改變新出現(xiàn)的感染，”來自威熱醫(yī)學院的Caroline Tapparel教授和來自EPFL的Francesco Stellacci教授補充說，他們是這項研究的兩位資深作者。