New Strategy to Fight Viruses Focuses on Body’s Defenses, Not the Virus Itself

Scientists are excited about new insights into how the common cold infects the body, pinpointing crucial cellular processes that viruses target. But the potential impact goes far beyond just the common cold – and even beyond coronaviruses like MERS-CoV or the virus that causes COVID-19.Researchers believe this work could led to broader protection against a range of viral pathogens.

Instead of trying to directly attack a specific virus with drugs, a team at the Department of Energy’s Pacific northwest National Laboratory is aiming to strengthen the body’s natural defenses against many viruses at once. The goal isn’t just to stop the current threat, but to fortify the body against future invaders.

“A virus succeeds by taking control of the cell’s machinery, hijacking normal functions to make more copies of itself,” explained John Melchior, a biochemist and lead author of a study published September 12 in the Journal of Proteome Research. “We want to find and then reinforce the molecular complexes that are vulnerable to many viruses – to stop them before they can take over the cell.”

Instead of going after the virus itself, we manipulate the control points in the cell to battle the virus.

John Melchior, biochemist

Virologist Amy Sims, the study’s co-lead author, said this approach represents a new way to combat various coronaviruses, from those causing mild colds to those responsible for severe illnesses like COVID-19 and ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

“This offers a potential path for using a single drug to stop multiple types of viruses,” Sims stated. “When you only target the virus, it can quickly develop strains that resist antiviral drugs. But by targeting essential functions within the host cell that the virus needs to replicate,and by turning…