Will they cure the common cold?

Adenovirus

Researchers in England have discovered something about viruses that some are saying could lead to a cure for the common cold. Others are skeptical for the moment.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how a recently discovered protein, TRIM21, helps destroy a virus linked to upper respiratory infections, once it’s inside of cells and coated with antibodies.

That’s interesting because antibodies are thought to do most of their work outside of our cells, blocking viruses from infecting cells in the first place or flagging invading pathogens to be recognized and eaten by specialist immune cells.

If a drug could treat the virus before it enters a cell we might have something.

The researchers, led by Leo James at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, found that one kind of adenovirus can enter cultured human cells after the researchers treated the viruses with antibodies. Once inside the cells, TRIM21 appears to latch onto the antibodies and shuttle the viruses to cellular structures that recycle proteins, called proteosomes, where the viruses are destroyed.

It’s possible that ramping up TRIM21 could help an immune system battle a viral infection, James told the Guardian. That may be true, but it’s not obvious how one would do that in laboratory animals, let alone safely in humans.

Don't sell your Kleenex stock just yet.