Viruses aren’t always harmful. 6 ways they’re used in health care and pest control

By Thea van de Mortel, Griffith University

We tend to just think of viruses in terms of their damaging impacts on human health and lives. The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 50 million people. Smallpox claimed 30% of those who caught it, and survivors were often scarred and blinded. More recently, we’re all too familiar with the health and economic impacts of COVID.

But viruses can also be used to benefit human health, agriculture and the environment.

Viruses are comparatively simple in structure, consisting of a piece of genetic material (RNA or DNA) enclosed in a protein coat (the capsid). Some also have an outer envelope.

Viruses get into your cells and use your cell machinery to copy themselves. Here are six ways we’ve harnessed this for health care and pest control.

1. To correct genes

Viruses are used in some gene therapies to correct malfunctioning genes. Genes are DNA sequences that code for a particular protein required for cell function.

If we remove viral genetic material from the capsid (protein coat) we can use the space to transport a “cargo” into cells. These modified viruses are called “viral vectors”.

Viral vectors can deliver a functional gene into someone with a genetic disorder whose own gene is not working properly.

Some genetic diseases treated this way include haemophilia, sickle cell disease and beta thalassaemia.

2. Treat cancer

Viral vectors can be used to treat cancer.

Healthy people have p53, a tumour-suppressor gene. About half of cancers are associated with the loss of p53.

Replacing the damaged p53 gene using a viral vector stops the cancerous cell from replicating and tells it to suicide (apoptosis).

Viral vectors can also be used to deliver an inactive drug to a tumour, where it is then activated to kill the tumour cell.

This targeted therapy reduces the side effects otherwise seen with cytotoxic (cell-killing) drugs.

https://youtu.be/Q6qk6Wh6cXU?si=T6mSTVqaN0NSg8RL

We can also use oncolytic (cancer cell-destroying) viruses to treat some types of cancer.

Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/viruses-arent-always-harmful-6-ways-theyre-used-in-health-care-and-pest-control-217379