28 replies to this topic

[Logic]

"...MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed and demonstrated a novel broad-spectrum antiviral approach, called DRACO (for Double-stranded RNA [dsRNA] Activated Caspase Oligomerizer).

DRACO selectively induces apoptosis, or cell suicide, in cells containing any viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells.

As a result, DRACO should be effective against virtually all viruses, rapidly terminating a viral infection while minimizing the impact on the patient..."
http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html


Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics

Abstract
Currently there are relatively few antiviral therapeutics, and most which do exist are highly pathogen-specific or have other disadvantages. We have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. We have created DRACOs and shown that they are nontoxic in 11 mammalian cell types and effective against 15 different viruses, including dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenaviruses, Guama bunyavirus, and H1N1 influenza. We have also demonstrated that DRACOs can rescue mice challenged with H1N1 influenza. DRACOs have the potential to be effective therapeutics or prophylactics for numerous clinical and priority viruses, due to the broad-spectrum sensitivity of the dsRNA detection domain, the potent activity of the apoptosis induction domain, and the novel direct linkage between the two which viruses have never encountered.
http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0022572

 

So it looks like DRACO is effective against all virii and has been tested in-vivo and found to be non toxic to healthy cells!?

 

If the complete viral load can be taken off of ones immune system we can almost wave goodbye to the immunosens! (Bacteria excepted)

 

This is worthy of more research and perhaps a group buy!

[niner]

I don't think that a group buy is in the cards any time soon, but it is possible to donate money to The DRACO Fund in order to fund research and move it forward.

[xEva]

This sounds awesome. I wonder how long it will take before phase I trials. If this pans out the impact will match that of antibiotics. 

 
 In its simplest form, a DRACO is a chimeric protein with one domain that binds to viral dsRNA and a second domain (e.g., a procaspase-binding domain or a procaspase) that induces apoptosis when two or more DRACOs crosslink on the same dsRNA. If viral dsRNA is present inside a cell, DRACOs will bind to the dsRNA and induce apoptosis of that cell. If viral dsRNA is not present inside the cell, DRACOs will not crosslink and apoptosis will not occur.
 
For delivery into cells in vitro or in vivo, DRACOs can be fused with proven protein transduction tags,

http://www.plosone.o...al.pone.0022572

[Logic]

I don't think that a group buy is in the cards any time soon, but it is possible to donate money to The DRACO Fund in order to fund research and move it forward.

Thx for the above link Niner.
 
Yep further Googling on my part didn't turn up anyone making these proteins.  Yet..! 

 
I hope that my 'group buy' comment plants a seed in manufacturers' minds though as its likely that people here would be willing to experiment with DRACO in their 'Lab Rats'?
Doing so would contribute invaluable if completely unofficial information to Dr. Rider and speed his research, finance and mission to get this out to the public along?

I feel that it's important to do so as in Dr. Rider's own words research on this has now entered the “Valley of Death” where there is actually a financial disincentive to research this further and lose the profit made from conventional therapies.
(My interpretation of the below: )

http://www.nature.co...ll/453840a.html

I would contact The Draco Fund about this but feel its premature to do so and also that I am way under qualified to discuss this with people of Dr. Rider's calibre?
https://www.thedracofund.org/Contact

xEva:
I actually thought of you immediately and inviting you to the topic when reading this . I'm glad you found it and think it asinteresting as I thought you would.

[niner]

I feel that it's important to do so as in Dr. Rider's own words research on this has now entered the “Valley of Death” where there is actually a financial disincentive to research this further and lose the profit made from conventional therapies.

 

I don't think the problem is a financial disincentive.  Anyone who isn't making antivirals, and there are plenty of companies in that category, would have a huge financial incentive to bring this forward.  The problem is more that it's a mammoth undertaking, and success is uncertain.

 

From the Nature commentary that you linked, this is the genesis of "the valley":

 

 

The barriers to translational research are relatively recent. Back in the 1950s and 60s, basic and clinical research were fairly tightly linked in agencies such as the NIH. Medical research was largely done by physician–scientists who also treated patients. That changed with the explosion of molecular biology in the 1970s. Clinical and basic research started to separate, and biomedical research emerged as a discipline in its own right, with its own training. The bulk of biomedical research is now done by highly specialized PhD scientists (see graph), and physician–scientists are a minority. The basic biomedical research enterprise has now evolved its own dynamic, with promotions and grants based largely on the papers scientists have published in top journals, not on how much they have advanced medicine. And many clinicians who treat patients — and earn fees for doing so — have little time or inclination to keep up with an increasingly complex basic literature, let alone do research. This has diminished the movement of knowledge and hypotheses back and forth between bedside and bench. At the same time, genomics, proteomics and all its cousins are generating such a volume of potential drug targets and other discoveries that the pharmaceutical industry is having trouble digesting them. With pharma spending more on research but delivering fewer products (see graph), it is no longer in a position to take forward most academic discoveries.

[resveratrol_guy]

I feel that it's important to do so as in Dr. Rider's own words research on this has now entered the “Valley of Death” where there is actually a financial disincentive to research this further and lose the profit made from conventional therapies.

 

This is no joke! We had better figure out how to synthesize and apply these dsRNA molecules ASAP, before they pull the plug on the whole thing and perhaps make them illegal because they're "unproven" or whatever the excuse would be. We can always find out later if the research was a fraud or it simply doesn't work for whatever reason; there is enough chance that this is "clincally real" (coming as it is from MIT), so we had better take some steps to learn how to do it before it's shut down.

 

So I would suggest tying donations to training, i.e. we give you some bitcoin, then you train our best biohackers. This is "antibiotic huge" (HIV? ebola?), so such "training fees" would seem to be well justified until and unless we find fraud here, of our own accord, independent of a government investigation with other motives. I would ask the top tier biohackers here to attempt to initiate a dialog with the team.

 

I would like to agree with niner's optimism, but I think that broadly successful therapies are fundamentally unpharmocratic and don't stand a chance in this day and age outside of banana republic regimes. Look at Sangamo BioSciences, for instance: they have been largely successful curing HIV by knocking out 2 different receptors, but they're still stuck in the mud with approval because the results have been imperfect. What chance on Earth does someone have who says they can selectively kill virus-infected cells in the generic sense? Forget it. We need to take responsibility for our own health, and learn how this stuff works, so we can make our own risk-reward assessments personally, with open, crowd-sourced pharmacology. Or do like Peter Nygaard and set up a "viral therapy" center next to his stem cell place in the Bahamas (not that I think he cares about your health any more than the FDA, but at least he's offering a promising therapy to paying customers).

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 11 December 2014 - 03:55 PM.

[StevesPetRat]

Don't think this is going to pan out. Most of us carry multiple latent dsRNA viral infections (e.g. herpes viruses). To simply annihilate all infected cells at once would be like getting a huge dose of chemotherapy.

I'm no expert, though, and my hopes for viral elimination hinge on another experimental antiviral...

[corb]

Don't think this is going to pan out. Most of us carry multiple latent dsRNA viral infections (e.g. herpes viruses). To simply annihilate all infected cells at once would be like getting a huge dose of chemotherapy.

I'm no expert, though, and my hopes for viral elimination hinge on another experimental antiviral...

 

They just have to come up with a dosage that won't be too much of an inconvenience.

It has the benefit of being targeted so it won't kill cells indiscriminately.

Wouldn't be surprised if it slows down aging a bit in fact, there's been a couple of papers floating about in recent years suggesting cellular senescence is a defense mechanism against infection. Like this one http://www.medsci.org/v11p0538.htm.

The only worrying thing is that the original paper is from 3-4 years ago and no progress has been made to get a trial started. I even remember this being discussed on the forums two or so years ago, and it seems they've not moved forward since.

[Plasticperson]

i don't think this will ever work..

 

first off DRACO kills the cells the viruses are part of.. thats like taking something that would kill like 5 percent of your body.

 

Also..

 

http://www.scienceda...50112093129.htm

[Logic]

i don't think this will ever work..
 
first off DRACO kills the cells the viruses are part of.. thats like taking something that would kill like 5 percent of your body.
 
Also..
 
http://www.scienceda...50112093129.htm

It would be a shame if this killed of all virii in our bodies but left us vegetables.
As it worked in rodents I doubt that it takes out cells that have been passed down to us that incorporate viral DNA.
I'm sure Dr. Rider and co. would have noticed if the rats were in a vegetative state post treatment.

I don't think wiping out 5% of all cells is an issue when you consider the vast # of cells that die and are replaced on a daily basis?
Some telomerase and stem cell activators pre treatment may not go amiss though IMHO.

Edited by Logic, 17 January 2015 - 08:20 PM.

[Logic]

"...the protective function of DNA methylation is similar in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In humans and rodents inserted viral sequences can become methylated in association with silencing of the introduced genes..."
http://www.methods.i...ion_review.html

If DNA methylation is about silencing Viral DNA; will killing off infected cells in effect kill of 'older' cells?

Will taking DRACO result in the killing off of senescent cells ending all the pro aging crap they cause!?

Is there more to the infection/Immunosenescence/autoimmune theory of aging than previously thought!???

[niner]

i don't think this will ever work..

 

first off DRACO kills the cells the viruses are part of.. thats like taking something that would kill like 5 percent of your body.

 

DRACO only kills cells with viral dsRNA, indicating an active infection.  If 5% of your cells had an active viral infection, you'd probably be dead.

[Logic]

Any conjecture on post no. 11 Niner?
I think the possibility that the methylation changes of aging may be related to viral DNA methylation is very intriguing!?

[niner]

I don't think that DRACO would particularly care how old the cell was, as long as it had an active infection involving the creation of dsRNA.  Methylated viral sequences that have been silenced wouldn't produce any dsRNA, so those cells wouldn't be touched.  That's probably a good thing, since every cell in the body is going to have primordial viral genes that are presently silenced.   We have a ton of old viral sequence in our genome.

[Logic]

I don't think that DRACO would particularly care how old the cell was, as long as it had an active infection involving the creation of dsRNA.  Methylated viral sequences that have been silenced wouldn't produce any dsRNA, so those cells wouldn't be touched.  That's probably a good thing, since every cell in the body is going to have primordial viral genes that are presently silenced.   We have a ton of old viral sequence in our genome.

Damn!

Thx Niner

Edited by Logic, 31 January 2015 - 05:41 AM.

[Sprengmeister]

Today, Dr. Todd Rider started the crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo!
Please donate and send the link to this unique project to everyone you know!
https://www.indiegog...s-with-dracos#/

[niner]

I'm thrilled to see this campaign get off the ground.  It's being run in conjunction with SENS.  Here's what they say about where your money will go:

 

 

Currently, DRACOs are in the Valley of Death--the financial and experimental gap between the previously funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) proof of concept experiments and the threshold for convincing major pharmaceutical companies to advance DRACOs toward human trials. This campaign has been set up to raise the funding necessary to bridge that gap. With your assistance, we hope to raise enough funding to test and optimize DRACOs against clinically relevant viruses in human cells. If successful, the results of those experiments should persuade pharmaceutical companies and other major sponsors to commit their own resources to advance DRACOs through large-scale animal trials and hopefully human trials. Without your assistance, DRACOs may never progress further, and their potential to revolutionize the treatment of viral infections may remain unfulfilled.

 

 

Considering the good results they've already seen with it, the publications and the acclaim that they've already won, you'd think that they wouldn't need to go to IndiGoGo to get out of the Valley of Death.  Pretty crazy system we have, eh?   This is the kind of world-changing research I'm happy to get behind.  Let's help to make it happen.

[Logic]

I'm thrilled to see this campaign get off the ground.  It's being run in conjunction with SENS.  Here's what they say about where your money will go:

 

 

Currently, DRACOs are in the Valley of Death--the financial and experimental gap between the previously funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) proof of concept experiments and the threshold for convincing major pharmaceutical companies to advance DRACOs toward human trials. This campaign has been set up to raise the funding necessary to bridge that gap. With your assistance, we hope to raise enough funding to test and optimize DRACOs against clinically relevant viruses in human cells. If successful, the results of those experiments should persuade pharmaceutical companies and other major sponsors to commit their own resources to advance DRACOs through large-scale animal trials and hopefully human trials. Without your assistance, DRACOs may never progress further, and their potential to revolutionize the treatment of viral infections may remain unfulfilled.

 

 

Considering the good results they've already seen with it, the publications and the acclaim that they've already won, you'd think that they wouldn't need to go to IndiGoGo to get out of the Valley of Death.  Pretty crazy system we have, eh?   This is the kind of world-changing research I'm happy to get behind.  Let's help to make it happen.

+1 !

I think that many very lucrative 'therapies' and 'meds'  would become defunct if DRACO works as well as initial tests have imply, without major site effects, and goes mainstream.
Thus there is very likely to be major resistance to its success by those who stand to lose a great deal of money from its success, which is why a successful crowdfunding campaign is vital.

Who are the people high up in Longecity that should be invited to this thread to get Longecity involved plz Niner?

Lets try use Longecity to spread the word and get involved in funding? 

[Logic]

Help fund a TRUE CURE for incurable viruses

https://www.change.o...tm_medium=email

[resveratrol_guy]

There is a DRACO AMA (ask me anything) with Dr. Todd Rider on Sunday 11/1/2015 from 1 to 3 pm EST at Reddit Science. I believe this is the correct page, which seems to contain some previously answered questions.

[resveratrol_guy]

Correction: This is link to today's AMA. It will be permanently archived here according to anuntrusted third party.

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 01 November 2015 - 05:05 PM.

[zorba990]

It was reported today that
http://www.graciousc...-year-fy/23513/
So wouldn't the best financial incentive be showing it eliminates hiv? (Or does it)

[niner]

It was reported today that
http://www.graciousc...-year-fy/23513/
So wouldn't the best financial incentive be showing it eliminates hiv? (Or does it)

 

It should eliminate an active HIV infection.  Since HIV is a retrovirus, I don't know if DRACO could eliminate it from the body or not.

 

Don't forget the DRACO IndieGoGo fundraiser, which still needs your support.

[resveratrol_guy]

niner is right. DRACO has only 1 month left to make 79% of their funding. Tell your friends, folks. This is a golden opportunity to change the world. Think about what you would tell the millions of people who will die from virusses this decade. That you just didn't have time? That you really needed the $10 for a pizza? Sorry to pontificate, but it's just too easy to make oneself a hero here. Why not do so?

 

Edited by resveratrol_guy, 04 November 2015 - 04:44 AM.

[YOLF]

FYI - posted a research suggestion in the project suggestions forum.

[Nate-2004]

Did this ever make their funding? I'm quite baffled by the lack of interest in this, especially with the NIH.

[resveratrol_guy]

Did this ever make their funding? I'm quite baffled by the lack of interest in this, especially with the NIH.

 

Like most technologies that could go a long way to improving the human condition, but have no entertainment value, funding has been lackluster. However, Todd Rider et al are still at it...

 

https://www.riderins....org/blogs/news

[Nate-2004]

 

Did this ever make their funding? I'm quite baffled by the lack of interest in this, especially with the NIH.

 

Like most technologies that could go a long way to improving the human condition, but have no entertainment value, funding has been lackluster. However, Todd Rider et al are still at it...

 

https://www.riderins....org/blogs/news

 

 

Their more recent post in June leaves me wondering why the hell it's taken 2 years just to test on animals, much less humans. I guess it's a lack of funding after all. Maybe if 40% of the average person's paycheck wasn't stolen away to pay for oppression, wars, corporate welfare and other mayhem, we'd be able to just fund what we want to ourselves.

 

 

RIDER INSTITUTE Q&A

 

DRACO Q&A – the following Questions (Q:) were asked by several of you who completed the provided form. All answers following the “A:” were written by Dr.Rider. Q: Judging by the slow pace of FDA drug approval, is there a way to get a more blanket-like approval for concurrent trials of the DRACO method for different diseases? A: That is a very interesting idea, but before we can get to questions about FDA approval, we need to test and optimize DRACOs against major clinically relevant viruses in cells and in animal experiments. Q: First of all, thanks for your passion and hard work to help make the world a better place to live. I would like to know if DRACOs can address infections of...

 

Edited by Nate-2004, 20 October 2016 - 09:46 PM.

[Kimer Med]

Kimer Med is working on replicating the original results with DRACO, along with testing against SARS-CoV-2, to be followed by testing in mice and then clinical trials.

 

If you'd like to follow our work, consider subscribing to our email list:

 

https://kimermed.co.nz/landing

 

If anyone has questions about DRACO, I can try to answer them.