New antiviral treatment made from sugar • Hacker News Board

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#41

Post by wpasc » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 5:40 PM UTC

kabouseng wrote: post #10

Do humans / animals require viruses like we require bacteria to function?

Layman here, but I worked with a computational biologist for a semester in grad school on a microbiome project.

There may be viruses and funghi operating in the same way beneficial (even critical) bacteria do. But, because research into and understanding of the microbiome is still comparatively in its infancy, we may be unaware. IIRC, my professor mentioned that the current ways we examine microbiome may favor the understanding of the components which are amenable to testing (meaning, we take a stool sample which shows use the bacteria living in the lower intestine well, but other components like other bacteria/viruses/funghi living further up the digestive tract we can't understand/sample well).

I had an idea like what if you could have a time release pill that opened up, sampled, and closed various compartments at various times throughout the tract. idk if it's doable or if that idea is unoriginal, but I think it'd be informative to have.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#42

Post by loceng » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 6:00 PM UTC

wpasc wrote: post #41

kabouseng wrote: post #10

Do humans / animals require viruses like we require bacteria to function?

Layman here, but I worked with a computational biologist for a semester in grad school on a microbiome project. There may be viruses and funghi operating in the same way beneficial (even critical) bacteria do. But, because research into and understanding of the microbiome is still comparatively in its infancy, we may be unaware. IIRC, my professor mentioned that the current ways we examine microbiome may favor the un…

Neat idea to extract data at different points to give an extra layer of resolution - could give insights to function and processes we're currently unaware of.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#43

Post by Nasrudith » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 6:32 PM UTC

klyrs wrote: post #29

MichaelApproved wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What problem does the body have with breaking down artificial sweeteners?

Read the reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Haribo-SUGAR-Classic-Gummi-Bears/prod... And fwiw the whole point of "non-caloric" artificial sweeteners is that they're indigestible. https://chriskresser.com/how-artificial-sweeteners-wreak-hav...

That sounds like the opposite of a problem in itself. The body digesting the drug before it can kill viruses would make it less useful.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#44

Post by Nasrudith » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

I wonder how if there is a risk of cells and bacteria interfering with it by say consuming it or insulin reacting. Of course even then it could still be of some use even if the circumstances are more narrow and the side effects more severe.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#45

Post by cybertronic » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

auiya wrote: post #18

Hey remember when this time last year Israeli scientists said we would have a cure for cancer within a year?[1] Yeah.... [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinseatonjefferson/2019/01/29...

Yeah. No news so far... https://blogs.cancer.org/drlen/2020/01/10/remember-last-janu...

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#46

Post by darwinreally » Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 2:48 AM UTC

rrtthu wrote: post #24

clort wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure that government could just buy a patent like this at a price that they choose. Some countries might choose to do that, some might not. Also, patents expire after only 21 years. They have patented this molecule now, but they haven't actually got a treatment as yet, meaning that the clock is ticking. I don't know if you can copyright a molecule?

Isn't there also the mirror molecule thing they can do to imitate patented ones?

Yes, many steroids have same structure but some changes and they are passed on as new steroid.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#47

Post by Kaiyou » Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 9:32 AM UTC

IanDrake wrote: post #35

Kaiyou wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, patents pretty much only enrich someone at the expense of everyone else. Without patents and copyright we could progress much faster. Look how fast China caught up. It's not becaue they respected intellectual property, I can tell you that.

And what are you dedicating your life to research and development for no pay now, or ever?

Why no pay? Copyright and patents are a pretty new invention in history. Money isn't. Just look how Hollywood developed in the early years by escaping from this whole copyright thing.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#48

Post by WheelsAtLarge » Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 9:44 AM UTC

Sugar has been used as an antibacterial substance for wounds. I remember reading where a vet used sugar to treat the wounds in a poor dog that has been wounded multiple times and was successful in treating infections with nothing but sugar and a bandage. I wonder if just sugar would have the same affect with viruses.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#49

Post by IanDrake » Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 1:24 PM UTC

Kaiyou wrote: post #47

IanDrake wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what are you dedicating your life to research and development for no pay now, or ever?

Why no pay? Copyright and patents are a pretty new invention in history. Money isn't. Just look how Hollywood developed in the early years by escaping from this whole copyright thing.

And who would pay you to create something new that they could not profit from?

That's why.

Re: New antiviral treatment made from sugar

#50

Post by Accujack » Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 3:26 PM UTC

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #48

Sugar has been used as an antibacterial substance for wounds. I remember reading where a vet used sugar to treat the wounds in a poor dog that has been wounded multiple times and was successful in treating infections with nothing but sugar and a bandage. I wonder if just sugar would have the same affect with viruses.

This use doesn't have anything to do with sugar chemically, except for the shape of the custom molecules.

It sounds like this is a similar idea to a mis-folded protein, where the shape of the molecules is what is deadly to viruses.

It almost doesn't matter what the molecules are made of, as long as they have the shape to disrupt viruses. Sugar was probably chosen because it's non toxic to humans in most cases, and because it could form the needed shape.