The common cold has long eluded scientists, but researchers from Newcastle have teamed up with Melbourne researchers in a bid to use a molecule which could block the virus responsible for giving us the sniffles.
Based at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the groundbreaking research has been given a $6.3 million funding boost for trials which will use a molecule called 'TLR agonist' to stimulate the body's innate immune system and protect it against rhinovirus, better known as common cold infections.
The molecule goes directly into the respiratory tract and aims to block viral infections at their source whereas traditional cold remedies only dampen the symptoms. The rhinovirus has also been found to trigger common respiratory diseases such as asthma where symptoms can be severe and life-threatening.
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| Dr Nathan Bartlett. |
"We've been working on the site where the virus replicates and that's the airway epithelium, or the cells lining the airways, so this is where the virus replicates and really its the event that triggers a cascade of inflammation that makes these chronic airway diseases worse and that's what we call the exacerbation or an asthma attack for example," said Dr Bartlett.
Dr Bartlett's reputation has impressed researchers throughout the country after spending 13 years in London where he perfected a way of producing the rhinovirus in a laboratory. He was then contacted by a Melbourne microbiologist who asked him to join his project developing the TLR agonist molecule.
The TLR agonist molecule isn't a new discovery, Dr Bartlett says it's really just taken time to identify the right molecule into a format that can target viruses such as the rhinovirus directly at the site of airway infection.
"We're in a really exiting phase here and I think the data we've got to date looks extremely promising. I've been working in this field going on 20 years now and certainly the most promising anti-viral I've had the opportunity to be working with so we're very optimistic and I think it's an excellent molecule," said Dr Bartlett.
He says he's confident the TLR agonist molecule will provide protection against all of the known subtypes of the common cold as well as other respiratory infections such as influenza and that if all goes according to plan, clinical trials could start as early as next year.
"We could really have a target candidate molecule identified before the end of the year hopefully, and then be looking to getting this into man clinical trials in 2018 and then hopefully have it approved and ready a small number of years after that - it's hard to predict exactly."
