A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses.
Exciting new research suggests that it could lead to a new generation of antiviral remedies to banish the misery of runny noses, headaches and fevers.
The study comes as millions are preparing to dose up on over-the-counter treatments to combat the winter bug.
Scientists believe they can harness the potent power of a chemical found in the popular fruit to also provide treatments for Ebola, hepatitis C, Sars and HIV.
The new research focuses on a protein called banana lectin, or BanLec, that "reads" the sugars on the outside of both viruses and cells. Five years ago, scientists showed it could keep the virus that causes AIDS from getting into cells - but it also caused side effects that limited its potential use..
BanLec sticks to chains of sugar molecules and its use as a miracle antiviral has potential because most of the world’s deadliest viruses are covered in exactly the sort of sugar molecules that banana lectin prefers.
Now, an international team of scientists reports how they created a new form of BanLec that still fights viruses in mice, but doesn't have a property that causes irritation and unwanted inflammation.
They succeeded in peeling apart these two functions by carefully studying the molecule in many ways, and pinpointing the tiny part that triggered side effects. Then, they engineered a new version of BanLec, called H84T, by slightly changing the gene that acts as the instruction manual for building it.
The result: a form of BanLec that worked against the viruses that cause AIDS, hepatitis C and influenza in tests in tissue and blood samples - without causing inflammation.
When these viruses are covered in lectin, they become harmless. Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Nottingham, said: “Each new virus outbreak is a timely reminder of our need for antivirals to work against a range of viruses.
"Lectins have that potential as they are able to bind to the sugars present on the surface of a range of viruses including HIV, influenza and Ebola, many of which have caused or have the potential to cause severe epidemics or even pandemics.”
The study was published in the journal Cell.
