JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
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Engineered Nanobots Demonstrated to Eliminate Hepatitis C Virus
Cool stuff!
Hepatitus C survivors have it rough.
Researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville created a tiny machine that has a gold nanoparticle backbone. On the surface of the gold are two biological agents. One element is a DNA antisense fragment that binds the target viral RNA, and thereby brings the nanobot close to the site of action. The other agent is a sequence nonspecific endoribonuclease, which cleaves and thus destroys the viral RNA fragment in the bots grasp.
When cultured cells infected with hepatitis C virus were exposed to the nanobots, the treatment led to almost a 100 percent decrease in hepatitis C virus levels. Furthermore when living mice were administered the nanobots, the same nearly 100% reduction in virus was observed. Furthermore the nanbots did not elicit an immune response in the mice.
We can effectively stop hepatitis C infection if this technology can be further developed for clinical use, said scientist Hongyan Liu, who is a member of The UF Shands Cancer Center.
Conceivably a pill form can be made.
Cool stuff!
Hepatitus C survivors have it rough.