2014年4月23日讯 /生物谷BIOON/ --最近美国佐治亚州立大学的研究人员、埃默里药物研究所和德国的Paul-Ehrlich Institute共同发现了一种药物有望成为麻疹特效药，为未接种麻疹疫苗的人群提供保护。这种被命名为ERDRP-0519的药物能够阻止病毒复制过程进而控制麻疹。当这种药物被用于治疗犬瘟热病毒感染的动物时，所有接受治疗的动物均为死亡，其中有些动物体内病毒水平甚至大大降低。负责这项研究的Dr. Richard Plemper表示这一结果表明ERDRP-0519一旦研制成功将会在控制麻疹传播中起到重要作用。
A new antiviral drug may provide an effective way to treat measles in those who have not been vaccinated.
When tested in an oral form in animals infected with a similar version of the measles virus, the experimental drug not only prevented animals from dying of the disease, but it significantly reduced virus levels.
Developed by scientists from the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, the Emory Institute for Drug Development and the Paul-Ehrlich Institute in Germany, the drug is designed to block the replication of the measles-causing pathogen. The drug, dubbed ERDRP-0519, could potentially boost measles eradication efforts by halting the spread of the virus during local outbreaks, according to the researchers.
In a study appearing in Science Translational Medicine, researchers report that they tested the drug in ferrets with canine distemper virus, which causes a highly lethal infection that resembles the human version of measles. All of the animals treated with ERDRP-0519 survived infection, remained disease free and developed robust immunity against the virus.
Measles remains a problem in both developed and developing countries. Annual measles deaths have remained constant at around 150,000 since 2007, according to a Georgia State University report, and declining vaccination rates in the Western world have led to localized flare-ups of the disease.
"The emergence of strong antiviral immunity in treated animals is particularly encouraging, since it suggests that the drug may not only save an infected individual from disease but contribute to closing measles immunity gaps in a population," said Dr. Richard Plemper, a professor at Georgia State University, in a statement.
Though the drug is not intended as a substitute for vaccination, it could eventually be used in addition to a vaccine to treat people who have come into contact with someone infected with measles but have not yet developed measles symptoms.
Additionally, the researchers say ERDRP-0519 can be produced cost-effectively, stockpiled and administered by mouth.