Anti-viral drug shows promise

DALLAS, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- An anti-viral drug developed at University of Texas-Southwestern shows potential as a strategy against viral diseases, researchers said.

The Dallas university researchers infected groups of guinea pigs with a virus similar to Lassa fever virus. The animals recovered from the virus when treated with the UT-Southwestern-developed bavituximab alone or in combination with another anti-viral medication, the university said in a news release.

Bavituximab treatment also cured mice infected with cytomegalovirus, an opportunistic infection that afflicts transplant and AIDS patients, researchers said.

"When injected into the bloodstream, bavituximab circulates in the body until it finds these inside-out lipids and then binds to them," said Philip Thorpe, professor of pharmacology. "In the case of virus infection, the binding raises a red flag to the body's immune system, forcing the deployment of defensive white blood cells to attack the infected cells."

In the study, half of the guinea pigs infected with a virus similar to Lassa fever were cured when bavituximab was administered alone. Researchers said this is the first report of a therapeutic treatment being effective against advanced Lassa-like fever infections in animals. When combined with ribavirin, 63 percent of guinea pigs survived.

Lassa fever is an endemic disease in portions of West Africa. As a hemorrhagic fever virus, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta classifies Lassa is as a Category A bioterrorism agent, the same categorization as the Ebola and Marburg viruses.