Results of a five-year study of the curative effect of double stranded ribonucleic acid in viral dermatoses and eye diseases

T4 bacteriophage-mediated inhibition of adsorption and replication of human adenovirus in vitro

AIM

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of T4 phage on adsorption and replication of human adenovirus (HAdV).

MATERIALS & METHODS

Experiments were performed on cell lines A549 and HEK-293. Intracellular HAdV virions were released and titrated by Reed-Muench method.

RESULTS

T4 significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited both the adsorption of HAdV and viral replication in a dose-dependent manner. Mean reductions in HAdV titer were within the range 0.634-2.12 and 0.238-1.88 log10 TCID50/ml for HAdV adsorption and replication, respectively.

CONCLUSION

T4 phage can inhibit infections by HAdV-5 of target cells. Our results suggest that T4 might be considered a novel agent against HAdV and possibly other pathogenic viruses. Potential antiviral effects of other phages should also be investigated.

Therapeutic Effects of Ribunucleinate (Ribonucleotides) in Immuno-Inflammatory and Arthritic Diseases

Ribonucleic acids from different organs and from yeast have been used for the treatment of chronic and degenerative diseases in the context of naturopathic medicine in the last 60 years. This chapter provides general information about ribonucleinates as therapeutic agents. Past and present pharmacological and clinical investigations are discussed in the field of the central nervous system, sensory organs, cancer and degenerative diseases of joints and vertebra.

Bacterial viruses against viruses pathogenic for man?

In this review, we discuss possible models of bacteriophage-virus interactions. The first is based on the mechanism by which phages may interact indirectly with viruses. Its essence is that bacteriophage-derived nucleic acid may inhibit pathogenic virus infection. It seems that this phenomenon can be partly explained on the basis of interferon induction. We also discuss a study by Borecky's group (conducted over two decades ago) which provided some clinical data on the effectiveness of the application of native bacteriophage RNA in the treatment of viral infections. The second interaction model is based on the direct competition of bacteriophages and viruses for cellular receptors for viral cell-entry. The use of bacteriophages as inducers or displayers of antibodies with antiviral action is considered as the third model. In this part of the article, we also discuss other data and hypotheses on conceivable interactions between bacterial and animal viruses. As our current supply of antiviral drugs is quite limited, using natural agents such as bacteriophages as a weapon against pathogenic viruses could be an attractive and cost-efficient alternative, and further studies are urgently needed to test this possibility.