Word: viruses
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Like a seasoned burglar, the virus circles a human cell looking for the easiest point of entry. Within seconds, it has broken into its target, located the nucleus and deftly slipped its genetic material into the cell's DNA. Now whenever the cell divides to copy itself, it also makes copies of the interloper. Soon those multiplying viruses have hijacked not just that cell but also all its neighbors, turning them into one massive virus factory. When the cells can no longer make the proteins they need to survive, they start...
...labs like this around the world, bad bugs are undergoing the ultimate rehabilitation, being transformed from life-threatening viruses and bacteria into lifesaving therapeutic agents. Using the tools of molecular biology, researchers like Russell are disguising and manipulating common microbes so that they will do good instead of harm. After all, nothing is better than a virus at evading the body's immune defenses and breaking into a cell. And nothing is better than a bacterium at producing deadly toxins that destroy a cell from the inside. "We can make a good anticancer agent," says Russell, "by harnessing and channeling...
...ideal microbial ally, say scientists, is one that already infects humans and yet can be easily controlled with antibiotics or antiviral medications should something go awry. For his research, Russell likes the measles virus, in particular, the modified strain of the virus used for more than five decades in the measles vaccine. That weakened form has a special fondness for tumors, lured there by a protein expressed in copious quantities on the surface of malignant cells. As part of an ongoing trial in ovarian-cancer patients, Russell's colleague Dr. Eva Galanis constructed a measles virus that could also churn...
...course, a virus has to reach its target to destroy it, and that means surviving the defensive armies of a formidable opponent: the immune system. "Blood is a pretty hostile environment for the viruses," notes Russell. "The name of the game is to dodge the immune defenses for a few hours and give the viruses enough time before the immune system gets in and stops them." His group is perfecting two approaches: 1) temporarily distracting the immune system with drugs that suppress it and 2) cloaking the virus in a protective protein coat that renders it invisible to immune cells...
...small molecule could be induced to bind to that pocket, it would inhibit the shape transformation the virus would need to undergo in order to infect target cells...