Cure for Common Cold May Result From Virus DNA Search

A cure for the common cold may result from research analyzing the DNA of a family of viruses that’s long been linked to the sniffles and achy muscles that result from infection.
The rhinoviruses that cause colds have been elusive targets for drugs. Studying the genes of all 99 known strains of the germ have helped uncover sections of DNA that consistently appear and may be vulnerable to medications, according to a report in the journal Nature.

Colds and their complications, such as asthma attacks, cost as much as $100 billion annually in care and lost work, said Stephen Liggett, a geneticist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Genome Sciences in Baltimore, who led the study. Only eight rhinovirus genomes were sequenced when he started the study, Liggett said. New sequencing technology from Illumina Inc., Roche Holding AG’s 454 unit, and Applied Biosystems Inc. helped speed the three-year effort.

“I’m hoping this will lead to interventions that can be fast-tracked and applied to a very practical and worthy cause,” Liggett said yesterday in a telephone interview. “All these genome sequences are in the public domain now so they can be mined by interested people.”

Liggett said he became interested in tracking down the gene sequences of cold germs because of his interest in finding the connection between colds and asthma.

‘Missing Link’

“It became clear that there was a missing link here,” he said. “About 50 percent of all asthma attacks are caused by rhinovirus infections. So we needed to understand more about it. Like it or not, it’s part of the equation.”

Symptoms of the common cold include a running or stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, body aches, sneezing and a low grade fever, according to the Web site of the Rochester, Minnesota- based Mayo Clinic. Patients are advised to see a doctor only if their body temperature rises to 102 Fahrenheit or higher or their glands become significantly swollen, the Web site said. Treatments primarily address the symptoms.

Only eight rhinovirus genomes had been sequenced when he started the study, Liggett said. New sequencing technology from Illumina Inc., Roche Holding AG’s 454 unit, and Applied Biosystems Inc. helped speed the three-year effort.

The study showed that viruses within divisions of the rhinovirus family, such as its B group, are far more diverse than had been thought. He also found a potential new species of rhinovirus, called HRV-D.

Liggett said he is conducting a nationwide sampling of rhinovirus infections to find more genomes and further expand the list of known rhinoviruses. Each genome contains about 16,000 chemical “letters,” called bases, that contain the instructions for making the virus. The human genome is composed of 6 billion bases.

With current technology, each virus genome can be sequenced at a cost of about $100, he said.