Researchers are expecting Banana Lectin, a protein isolated from bananas, to be an agent against HIV, Hepatitis C, and influenza. Banana Lectin was initially extracted in 2010, but the prototype caused several adverse effects. The team developed a modified version, H84T, which is less harmful to the human. The H84T is now under examination on mice.
Live Mint: Drug from banana protein could help fight AIDS, Hepatitis C and influenza viruses
The series of research was published in Cell, a world-famous academic journal. I could not read the full text at home, but it seems quite interesting.
Cell: Engineering a Therapeutic Lectin by Uncoupling Mitogenicity from Antiviral Activity
We would need no physicians if taking bananas were a panacea. Some kinds of virus are easily polymorph their own structure so that external foes cannot catch them. It is why developing the vaccine for a viral infection is difficult.
Nonetheless, scientists have been struggling to address this challenge. Treatment of HIV infection has been evolutionally changed for some decades. AIDS is no more inevitable end of HIV infection. Furthermore, Hepatitis C can be eradicated by Sofosbuvir and some other newly developed antiviral agents. It is only a couple of decades ago that Oseltamivir was developed for treatment and prevention of influenza.
Recent innovation makes me imagine the future in which many viral infections are controllable with medication, which was merely fantasy. I guess the ultimate target for antiviral agents is common cold. Upper respiratory infection is extremely common in almost all regions of the world. There are hundreds of viruses causing wet cough, sneeze, and mild fever, all of which are annoying symptoms. There is no particular solution to conquer common cold in spite of modern medicine. I dream the day that human overcome a cold.
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