2011/07/27 by Todd H. Rider, Christina Zook, Tara Boettcher +3 · 1 citation
Medicine · Chemistry · #Viral Infections and Vectors #Mosquito-borne diseases and control #Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research #Virology #Biology #Broad spectrum #RNA silencing #Pathogen #Dengue fever #Flavivirus #RNA interference #Virus #Apoptosis #Antiviral treatment #RNA #Microbiology #Gene #Genetics #Chemistry
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022572
openalex publication_date 2011/07/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Currently there are relatively few antiviral therapeutics, and most which do exist are highly pathogen-specific or have other disadvantages. We have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. We have created DRACOs and shown that they are nontoxic in 11 mammalian cell types and effective against 15 different viruses, including dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenaviruses, Guama bunyavirus, and H1N1 influenza. We have also demonstrated that DRACOs can rescue mice challenged with H1N1 influenza. DRACOs have the potential to be effective therapeutics or prophylactics for numerous clinical and priority viruses, due to the broad-spectrum sensitivity of the dsRNA detection domain, the potent activity of the apoptosis induction domain, and the novel direct linkage between the two which viruses have never encountered.