ORALANTINOROVIRUS
Development of an oral anti-norovirus therapy
| Coordinatore | IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Organization address
address: SOUTH KENSINGTON CAMPUS EXHIBITION ROAD contact info |
| Nazionalità Coordinatore | United Kingdom [UK] |
| Totale costo | 231˙927 € |
| EC contributo | 231˙927 € |
| Programma | FP7-PEOPLE
Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) |
| Code Call | FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF |
| Funding Scheme | MC-IEF |
| Anno di inizio | 2010 |
| Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) | 2010-03-01 - 2012-02-29 |
Partecipanti
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Organization address
address: SOUTH KENSINGTON CAMPUS EXHIBITION ROAD contact info |
UK (LONDON) | coordinator | 231˙927.20 |
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Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)
'Often reported in the public press as “Stomach Flu” or “Winter Vomiting Disease”, noroviruses are the leading cause of gastroenteritis in the developed world, with frequent outbreaks in closed environments (e.g. hospitals, schools, etc). Outbreaks in hospitals result in substantial economic losses (>100 million € per year in UK), but more importantly put additional pressures on health care services. With the ongoing influenza virus pandemic, it is essential health care services run efficiently, however the winter seasonal peak of norovirus outbreaks will coincide with that of influenza virus and will undoubtedly have a major impact on hospital facilities. Hence new antiviral strategies against noroviruses are essential, yet there are currently no effective treatments to control these pathogens. This proposal aims to explore the use of a new potential antiviral approach based on inhibitory RNA aptamers. Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids selected by robotic procedures to have high affinity for a target molecule and its binding often results in specific inhibition. Norovirus replication is catalysed by viral polymerase which may constitute an attractive target for anti-viral therapy. We will identify aptamers against polymerases from 2 different noroviruses: Norwalk virus, the prototypic human virus, and murine norovirus (MNV), that provides us with cell culture and in vivo systems to study norovirus replication. We will investigate if administration of aptamers in mice prevent establishment of MNV infections in vivo. For an efficient delivery of aptamer RNAs to the intestinal tract we will make use of a newly developed technique reliant on invasive non-pathogenic bacteria that enter intestine cells to express therapeutic RNAs. This approach will constitute a proof-of-principle that a probiotic approach may be effective in controlling norovirus infections in vivo and provide a possible avenue for the control of these important pathogens.'