Protein May Be a Universal Therapeutic Target for Many Infections

A protein called GRP78 could be a universal therapeutic target for treating human diseases like brain cancer, Ebola, influenza, hepatitis, and superbug bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , according to a pre-clinical study published this month in the Journal of Cellular Physiology . By using a drug combination of the clinically tested OSU-03012 and FDA-approved phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors to target GRP78 and related proteins, researchers prevented the replication of a variety of major viruses in infected cells, made antibiotic-resistant bacteria vulnerable to common antibiotics, and found evidence that brain cancer stem cells were killed.

http://www.pharmscope.com/news/2014-12-29-000000/protein-may-be-universal-therapeutic-target-many-infections