# British scientists may have found key to a cure for the common cold **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 2, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191 "2010-11-02T08:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/1 "2010-11-02T08:27:03Z")
[Click.](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/a-cure-for-the-common-cold-may-finally-be-achieved-as-a-result-of-a-remarkable-discovery-in-a-cambridge-laboratory-2122607.html) From the article: > [@](#): > > Viruses are still mankind’s biggest killers, responsible for twice as many deaths as cancer, essentially because they can get inside cells where they can hide away from the body’s immune defences and the powerful antibiotic drugs that have proved invaluable against bacterial infections. > > However, a study by a team of researchers from the world-famous Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge has shown that this textbook explanation of the limits of the human immune system is wrong because anti-viral antibodies can in fact enter the cell with the invading virus where they are able to trigger the rapid destruction of the foreign invader. > > “In any immunology textbook you will read that once a virus makes it into a cell, that is game over because the cell is now infected. At that point there is nothing the immune response can do other than kill that cell,” said Leo James, who led the research team. > [@](#): > > One possibility is that the protein TRIM21 could be used in a nasal spray to combat the many types of viruses that cause the common cold. “The kind of viruses that are susceptible to this are the rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, noravirus, which causes winter vomiting, rotavirus, which cause gastroenteritis. In this country these are the kind of viruses that people are most likely to be exposed to,” Dr James said. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/2 "2010-11-02T09:08:04Z")
Figures, I am 4 days into a cold, very miserable and this shit wont be available any time soon … :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/3 "2010-11-02T10:04:06Z")
Pssh. Yeah, but can they put a man on the moon any time soon? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/4 "2010-11-02T10:07:48Z")
I’m not sure if I can link it, but google _kim possible sick day_. It’s appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/5 "2010-11-02T10:56:19Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Pssh. Yeah, but can they put a man on the moon any time soon? Yeah! And when are they going to start slicing bread? Now there’s an innovation waiting to happen. Then they can get started on building a better mousetrap. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/6 "2010-11-02T13:28:16Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Figures, I am 4 days into a cold, very miserable and this shit wont be available any time soon … :smack: Bundle up and drink whisky. Normally a cold will last a week or a week and a half. By bundling up and drinking whisky, it should only last 7-10 days. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/7 "2010-11-02T13:48:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Yeah! And when are they going to start slicing bread? Now there’s an innovation waiting to happen. Tell me about it! Even when I buy fresh baguettes from the store, the crust is always hard, the whole loaf is un-uniform enough to make storing and using it a hassle, and it goes stale way too fast! Not to mention the subtle, artisan taste of the bread itself distracts from that of sandwich fillings. Now, if they could make bread in more like a rectangle shape, with a soft, thin-ass crust, a real mild flavor, AND packaged it in a decent oxygen barrier, _that’d_ be a real Wonder. Of Bread. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/8 "2010-11-02T14:02:11Z")
Still no cure for cancer. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/9 "2010-11-02T15:06:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Bundle up and drink whisky. > > Normally a cold will last a week or a week and a half. By bundling up and drinking whisky, it should only last 7-10 days. no alcohol, it interferes with my normal meds =( ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/10 "2010-11-02T15:56:32Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > no alcohol, it interferes with my normal meds =( Chicken soup, then. Mmmm… If you’re a vegetarian, garlic soup. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/11 "2010-11-02T18:12:12Z")
Good find. I’m printing the article and taking it to Virology this afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/12 "2010-11-04T11:34:37Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Still no cure for cancer. If I read correctly, there’s still no cure for the common cold! Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/13 "2010-11-04T14:59:48Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Still no cure for cancer. Cancer is not an illness/disease, but a generic name for what is possibly hundreds of different types of illnesses/diseases that have something (maybe) in common. And yet, cancer sucks. Can still say that. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-scientists-may-have-found-key-to-a-cure-for-the-common-cold/559191/14 "2010-11-04T15:27:06Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Still no cure for cancer. I doubt the cure in the OP will actually work for the common cold, but if it does, it takes little imagination to see it could be involved in curing cancer.